{"id":49838,"date":"2001-04-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-04-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/learning-from-childlikeness\/"},"modified":"2001-04-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2001-04-23T00:00:00","slug":"learning-from-childlikeness","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/learning-from-childlikeness\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning from Childlikeness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard. Kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on.<\/p>\n\n<p>When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money, and I look away. Kids see someone smiling at them, and they smile back.<\/p>\n\n<p>When I hear music I love, I know I can&#39;t carry a tune and don&#39;t have much rhythm, so I sit self-consciously and listen. Kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words, and if they don&#39;t know them, they make up their own.<\/p>\n\n<p>When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk. Kids close their eyes, spread their arms, and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.<\/p>\n\n<p>When I pray, I say &quot;thee&quot; and &quot;thou&quot; and &quot;grant me this&quot; and &quot;give me that.&quot; Kids say &quot;Hi, God! Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don&#39;t want to go to heaven yet. I would miss Mommy and Daddy.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>When I see a mud puddle, I step around it. I see muddy shoes and clothes and dirty carpets. Kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross, and worms to play with.<\/p>\n\n<p>I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from? No wonder God loves the little children!<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[310],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[406,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3454,3568,3569,4438,5314],"tax_ctp_topics":[382],"class_list":["post-49838","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-attitude","tax_ctp_tags-childlikeness","tax_ctp_tags-children","tax_ctp_tags-maturity","tax_ctp_tags-youth"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Learning from Childlikeness - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/learning-from-childlikeness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learning from Childlikeness - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard. 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