The Wisdom of a Child

As I listened to sister Beck’s talk “Teaching the Doctrine of the Family” last night, my 7 year old was quietly crafting a fuzzy caterpillar out of glue and puff balls at the table behind me.  I didn’t ever think she was listening, she must have been quiet (a rare thing for her) because she was so consumed in her creativity.  Besides, this talk was much too grown up and “boring” to catch the attention of such a young child.  But I was wrong.  A few minutes after it wrapped up she asked me, “So, the family is important?”  I replied, “Yes, very important.”  Then she said the wisest words to ever come out of her precious little mouth, “So without it we won’t survive.”

As Jesus taught “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 18:3, King James Version).  My little 7 year old daughter understands the importance of the family better than the majority of adults in this world.  “…Power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children...” (Doctrine and Covenants 29:47) This is why they have the purest of knowledge.  Why do you think we always go back to the “Primary answers” in Sunday school lessons?  Because the gospel truths are simple.   As we get older, we try to use our bigger brains to become more knowledgeable and we question things, which to a certain extent is good because it can aid us in strengthening our testimonies further.  However, if we are not careful that is also where Satan can slip in his deceit.  The downfall of many is when they rely too heavily on their questions which turn into doubts.  We can overthink things, trying to find some miraculous answer, when the answer was simple all along.  Trusting those simple answers, as little children do, requires more faith than all the knowledge in the world.

Image source:  https://www.lds.org/media-library/images/pictures-of-jesus-with-a-child-1126923?lang=eng