Become as little children

Earlier today, Dallan R. Moody gave a devotional at BYU.  In it, he spoke of his family's experience raising a son with severe disabilities.  I wish I could do the story justice, but I can't; I wish I could link to it, but it doesn't appear to be up yet, so I shall provide a link to a summary and shall then edit it at some future date.  He spoke of the immense love that he and his wife felt for their son, and the love they felt from him as well.  They experienced many trials; when they took him home from the hospital after he was born, the doctor told them not to take him back because they'd done all they could for him.  He lived seven years.

Mosiah 3:18 states, "For behold [God] judgeth, and his judgment is just, and the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children, and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent."  (Italics added.)

I have heard many opinions on what it means to become like a little child; however, today I believe I understand it better than ever.

A newborn child can't do much.  In fact, it is totally helpless, and essentially the only way it has to attract attention to its needs is through crying.  Left alone, it would die.  Blessed, however, with the love of a mother and a father, a child is safe and capable of growing.  After years of nourishment and protection, the child grows and matures and is one day capable of living on its own.

We are children of God.  We are totally and irrevocably dependent on Him for salvation.  Compared to an omnipotent, omniscient being, we really are newborn children.  Sometimes all we can do in the face of our trials is cry to Him and hope He will somehow help us.

And yet, as we grow, we may, like the six-year-old running away from home, think that we have no need for parents and can make it on our own.  God respects our agency, and He will never force us to follow Him, but like that six-year-old kid, do we really want to be on our own?

That, to me, is what being childlike really means.  It isn't just a list of attributes to develop.  It isn't turning into the mirror image of a little kid, with all his graces and flaws.  Being childlike means being utterly dependent on God, trusting only in His grace when all we have done is not enough.

Finally, I'd like to add a statement that Brother Moody made.  He spoke once to a Church leader about the struggles of raising a severely disabled child and the constant attention he required, and expected afterwards to hear words of appreciation for his love and dedication and encouragement for him to continue striving.  Instead, he was told four words that, he said, changed his life.  The leader said, simply, "You are being exalted."

In one important sense we are not like newborns.  We are capable of thinking, and we are capable of acting.  When God blesses us with the opportunity to sacrifice of ourselves to serve and uplift another, we generally think that we are blessing them and possibly earning blessings for ourselves.  This is such a limited, short-sighted view.  We become like God by doing God's work--dedicating ourselves to others as thoroughly as He dedicates Himself to us.  As we selflessly serve, we ourselves are being exalted.

God is love.  As we love, we come to know God.  As we fill ourselves with love, we become like God.