“Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” This was Jesus’ counsel in Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 18:3). Today we are going to explore what it means to become like children again.
Welcome back to Best Christmas Ever! Where we are exploring 28 Ways to Make this Your Best Christmas Ever!
#8 is… Rediscover childhood. Nobody experiences the unmitigated joy of Christmas like children.
Being a father has been an amazing blessing on my life. It has transformed me in unimaginable ways. Every day my children teach me new lessons. So, when I think about how we might rediscover childhood this Christmas, I am immediately drawn to two enduring lessons.
Play is the first. Children find a way to make everything a game. Gamification comes naturally to them. They run and laugh, hide and seek, sing and dance, and make everything into an adventurous game.
A couple of years ago, I was going through a very difficult and stressful situation and a friend said to me, “Find a way to have fun with it. Find a way to turn it into a game.” At first the advice seemed bizarre given the nature of the situation. Then it seemed impossible. But I have done it. Not at every point along the way, but when I have been able to the burden of the situation has been significantly decreased.
Children know how to play. Do you? George Bernard Shaw wrote, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
The second lesson children teach us effortlessly is timelessness. They don’t ask, “What time is it?” They live in the bliss of timelessness. They inhabit the eternal now. They reverence the precious present.
So, this Christmas, put your watch away and make a point to play. To ease yourself into this renewed state of childhood, may I suggest you begin by reading some children’s books.
Matthew Kelly
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