Be Like Jesus - 17

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may learn its value and validity. Humility promotes charity and purity. Jesus

took a child and carried it on his shoulder. Children are innocent angels.

Children are happy and scatter joy, enthusiasm, innocence and confidence. How

come they are so fresh and gay? Their minds are free from the infection of

sense-pleasure-seeking. Children have no strong wishes to run after; they have

no overpowering passion of hate or greed; they are embodiments of peace. They

are revealing in the untainted joy of their own innate nature. Christ treated

the children

with tenderness, and advised all the grownups to become like children, so that

they may be saved. That is why he declared: “If I were to be a child everyday

for a while, with full faith in my mother, how happy I would be!” How sweet is

the smile of the babe in the cradle or of the child playing in the garden? In

that childlike innocent there is a freedom from all the lies and deceits of the

world. That is purity of mind. That is the genuine nature of man, which he

tarnishes foolishly, year by year, as he grows. Christ said once that bliss

is playing around the tender cheeks of children, in whom there are no desires.

Children often exhibit this bliss in a remarkable manner. The bliss and

happiness which children show have no parallel to anything else in the

world. For example, if a mother is carrying a child and walking on the road, the

child sometimes look back and laughs. Children have got this extraordinary

quality in them that they can make elders also laugh. The reason for this is

that they are under no illusion about the importance of their bodies. Elders

are immersed so much in thinking of their body and things that involve the body

that even if they want to laugh, they cannot do so; they only put up a pretence

of laughter. Make yourself humble, pure, and useful for others; that way lies

peace and joy. Don’t rush to conclusions about others and their motives. All are

God’s children and are equally entitled to the love of the Lord. In this, you

will come to know that God loves those who love His children and

He will shower grace on those who serve the weak, the meek and the ignorant.

You should also cultivate patience, which is not commonly done in the present

day life. Haste makes waste; waste begets worry, so you should develop patience

to avoid worry. Purity, patience and perseverance are very essential for

everyone. If you develop these three virtues, you will remain young and

energetic always.

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