In this time of year, things move a little slower in Mexico. The hustle and bustle of over 700 guests in Monterrey for Back2Back summer mission trips is over and the pace of life once again becomes more manageable.
I am the captain for Manantial de Amor, one of the children’s homes that Back2Back serves in Monterrey. I love visiting these children during these slower times. I find that without having to manage groups and projects, I am able to give the children more of my time and focus when I am there.
Recently, I’ve found myself just sitting and watching these kids, these precious children. I get caught up in pondering their ‘miracle-ness,’ if I may create a word. Each one of these little children is just absolutely adorable, beautiful and precious to our heavenly Father.
I think that God is having me consider what it is about them that he finds so valuable. Let me explain.
Each day our children do devotions where they study the Bible and pray a bit. At dinner time, I ask the boys to share what they studied. One of my boys shared how he had read Matthew 19:14. This is where Jesus’ disciples tried to keep children from getting to Jesus in hopes that they might be healed if they were to touch him. Jesus told the disciples, “Leave the children alone and let them come to me for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Then I recently read a blog entry from Jim Betscher, a fellow Back2Back staff member. He too referred to the same verse in Matthew and it just happens that it was the exact verse that I planned to hone in on for this blog post.
Lord, what are you trying to say to me? What is it about children that makes the kingdom of heaven theirs?
Now that I am an adult, now that I am ‘mature’ and ‘have it figured it out’, now that I am wise and learned and have many experiences to guide me in this world, what is it that I have lost from my childhood? How can I regain the precious state of childlikeness that you so value?
Lord, thank you for these precious children, these 400 or so children of God that we serve here in Mexico. I know that they are but a drop in the bucket of all the orphans in this world and yet but a drop in the drop in the ocean of all the kids on earth, but they are oh so precious. Thank you for using them to show me what they have that I do not.