Mary and I just returned from a trip to Boston to visit our newest grandson, who was barely a week old, and spend some time with his 2 year old brother. I spent a lot of time observing the highs and lows of being two. The happy screams and boundless energy at the splash pad (“Again, Nana, again!”) followed by the extreme disappointments (“no, we are done with Thomas the Train videos”) and the devastating revelations (“It’s nap time”). As my nephew observed one day at the park, “It’s hard to be two.”
That Sunday, as we were sitting in the Sacrament Meeting of the Cambridge 2nd Ward, my mind was drawn to Christ’s discussion about little children, including His warning that we need to “become as little children”. Not for the first time I wondered what it was–really–about little children that we needed to emulate in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
During my personal stupor of thought, the Bishop announced that instead of the regular Sunday format, the meeting today was going to be a “singing” Sacrament, with the podium being open to anyone to come up and pick a song for the congregation to sing. A member of the ward came up to the podium and said that she wanted the congregation to sing Away in a Manger, even though it was July. She explained how it was easier for her to relate to Christ as a little child than as a adult deity. Convergence!
Later in the week, after we returned to Provo, we had the second of four scheduled Zoom meetings with a senior missionary couple in the Church Mission Department in preparation for us leaving on our mission. This week’s call included a long discussion about our proper roles as MLS missionaries, including specifically the importance of staying in our lane and remembering our role was to serve. As part of that discussion, we read Doctrine & Covenants 121:40-41, which includes a list of virtues that we need to develop to be effective missionaries; traits such as persuasion, gentleness, meekness and love unfeigned. Double convergence!! (Is that a thing? Well, sort of.)
In reflecting on this, I realized that in many ways, I have already become as a little child. I am at times irrational, self-centered, prone to tantrums, and unwilling to share. During a visit to one of the local parks with my nephew and his family, my nephew also made this observation, “It’s easy to be distracted when you are two.” Yep, got that one nailed as well. Somehow, I think that these are not the “little child” traits that Christ wants me to develop.
So then, what are the traits that I should be focused on now that we are at T-minus 40 days until we enter the MTC? Doctrine & Covenants 121:40-41 is surely a good place to start. My 2-year old grandson can be awfully persuasive (to be fair, it’s genetic–both his grandfathers and his dad are lawyers). He can also be gentle and meek. When he demonstrates affection, it is undoubtedly “unfeigned.” Jean Stevens, in her talk “Become as a Little Child” mentions additional characteristics such as faith, humility, obedience and being receptive to the Spirit. But I think first and foremost, the traits I need to focus on are the ones she mentions next: “[Children] are often the first to love and the first to forgive.” So there’s my challenge (and yours): train myself so that my first instinct is to love (not to judge) and to forgive (not to carefully place something in the proverbial bag for quick retrieval later). I will work on humility and obedience later when I am not so distracted. It’s hard to be 58!