November 6, 2025 • 28 mins
Read the Blog Post for this episode HERE: The Heavenly Qualities of a Little Child
Mentioned in this episode: Dealing with Anger as a Mom: My Story
What did Jesus mean when He said we must “become like little children” to enter the kingdom of heaven?
In this episode, we look at the heavenly qualities found in a child’s heart—faith, humility, joy, and wonder—and how these traits reveal what God values most.
When life feels complicated or faith feels heavy, God calls us back to simplicity… to trust, to believe, and to rest in His love like a child again.
Join me as we look at Matthew 18 and rediscover the freedom and faith that come from walking with God with childlike trust.
Text Audrey a message! She would love to hear from you!
Get your copy of my new devotional here: Seek First: 31 Quiet Moments With Jesus
☆ If you would like to give to Grace for My Home and financially support the podcast, you can do so here! -> GIVE HERE
☆ Subscribe to the Grace for My Home Weekly Newsletter SUBSCRIBE HERE
☆ Website: GraceForMyHome.com
☆ Facebook -> https://www.facebook.com/graceformyhome
☆ Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/graceformyhome
☆ Email Audrey at admin@graceformyhome.com.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to Grace for My Home.
I'm Audrey McCracken and I amdelighted to be back with you
again this week.
I hope that you're doing well.
We are.
We're doing great.
Lots going on right now.
My middle son Luke, he isgraduating from high school this
year.
This is his senior year, andthere's so much that goes on
(00:21):
during that senior year.
Our first to graduate was Davidlast year, our oldest son, and I
didn't realize it hit me soquickly with David.
I'm a little more prepared withLuke, but not much more.
I just remember that deadlinescome fast.
So I'm trying hard to stay ontop of those.
(00:42):
But this Friday, he has hislast, probably his last high
school football game.
He has a playoff game.
And so we're traveling about twohours, two and a half hours for
that.
And then on Monday, we're takinghim to a college he's interested
in.
And that's another two and ahalf hours in the opposite
direction.
And so we're we're busy, butit's it's a good busy.
(01:04):
You know, it's one of thosetimes when when you're just
praying with with him, you'repraying with, we're praying with
him, we're praying, you know,for him, that God would make his
plan sure, that God would showhim the way, because of course
we'll give him wisdom and tellhim what we think, but we really
want God to speak to him andshow him his plan and where he
(01:27):
needs to be and give him peacein that.
And so we're praying now thatthe right doors would be opened
and the wrong doors would beshut, and that we would know
there would just be a peacewhere, yes, this is where what
God has for you now.
So please pray for us.
Whereas we're in this time oftransition, you know, it's never
easy.
Every you think the next stageis going to be easier, but it's
(01:51):
it comes with its ownchallenges, it's a different
kind of heart.
And today I want to talk withyou about the heavenly qualities
of a child.
And if you have little ones athome or grandchildren, or if you
work with children, I think thiswill really speak to your heart.
(02:12):
But it's really a message forall of us because Jesus did not
direct it to one group ofpeople, he actually gave this
message or spoke these words tohis disciples, and they were
men.
They were men who were not, youknow, taking care of small kids.
But um, I when I was home withmy little ones, when they were
(02:33):
little and and I was with themall day, this this word really
encouraged me, and it helped meto get my eyes on um how God
sees kids, how God sees thesechildren, how important they are
to him, and therefore howimportant they should be to me.
But I want to read to you fromthe Gospel of Matthew, starting
(02:54):
in chapter 18, and I'm gonnaread the first five verses, and
I'm reading from the King JamesVersion because that's what I
had close.
It says, At the same time camethe disciples unto Jesus,
saying, Who is the greatest inthe kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus called a little childunto him, and set him in the
midst of them, and said, VerilyI say unto you, except ye be
(03:19):
converted and become as littlechildren, you shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humblehimself as this little child,
the same is greatest in thekingdom of heaven, and whoso
shall receive one such littlechild in my name receiveth me.
(03:41):
This seemed to be a theme amongthe disciples often through the
gospels we'll read where theywere discussing among
themselves, even arguing amongthemselves about who was going
to be greatest in the kingdom.
Because at this time they'restill expecting Jesus to set up
an earthly kingdom, and they gotJesus has told them that they
(04:02):
will rule and reign with him,and so they're trying to figure
out how is this gonna work?
You know, where am I gonna be inthis hierarchy?
And am I gonna be um importantin the kingdom?
What's my place gonna be in thekingdom?
And so they often discuss this,argued it out amongst
(04:22):
themselves, but this is aninstance when they actually went
to Jesus and said, Hey, justtell us, tell us, you know,
who's gonna be the greatest inthe kingdom?
And so he does something that's,I'm sure, completely unexpected.
He takes a little child, putsthat child right in the midst of
these men, and says, Unless youare changed, unless you are
(04:44):
converted and you become likethis little child, you can't
even enter the kingdom.
So it's not even a matter ofbeing first in the kingdom.
You can't even enter the kingdomuntil you become like a little
child.
He goes on to say that whoeverhumbles himself like this child,
that is who's going to be thegreatest in the kingdom.
(05:06):
And whoever receives this childin my name, he's receiving me.
So there's so much good stuff inhere, so much powerful
revelation in this scripture.
Jesus is like he does so often,he turns everything around.
It's not the kingdom isn't theway we think it should be.
(05:28):
You know, it's not an earthlykingdom, and it's not, it
doesn't go by the rules of thisworld.
You know, in another scripture,Jesus said, in this world, those
who are in authority lord itover others.
And he said, Not so in mykingdom.
My kingdom we serve, we serveeach other.
And so here he takes this childas and uses this child as an
(05:51):
example and tells the disciples,This is what I'm looking for.
This is what I value.
And when you value thequalities, the heavenly
qualities of this child, whenyou become like this child, then
you're ready.
Then you're ready to serve inthe kingdom, then you're ready
to do my will.
(06:13):
And the quality that hehighlighted was first of all the
humility of a child.
You know, a child, a smallchild, they're not
self-conscious.
They are just living life, youknow, they're just living life,
and they're not self-consciousyet.
And they're humble becausethey're they're not thinking
about themselves, they'reenjoying their world, they're
(06:36):
exploring their world, andthey're not afraid to to
experience life.
They're not afraid to laugh,they're not afraid to cry,
they're not afraid to just bethemselves because they have not
learned to be ashamed.
They're living in the moment andthey're not self-conscious.
Children enjoy life.
They laugh, they giggle, theyenjoy life.
(07:00):
And, you know, this week at thecoffee shop, I'll just share
something with you that reallystruck me.
You know, when I'm working atthe coffee shop, I'm I'm
working, it's a job, and youknow, I I want to make sure that
that our customers have a goodexperience and that we are doing
things as professional aspossible.
Well, and we have young women,young men who work with us, and
(07:25):
sometimes I forget that they'rethey're kids.
But I have a a young girl who'sworking with us and she's a
homeschool kid, and so she helpsus one day a week.
She is sweet as pie, butsometimes I forget that I'm
working with kids, and Ishouldn't, but I do.
(07:46):
This week she wanted to gosomewhere.
There was something downtown shewanted to go see, but she looks
older, she's tall and she looksolder.
And I remember opening up thedoor for her to go down the
street, and she skipped.
She skipped all the way down thestreet, and my heart jumped
because I thought, I don'tremember the last time I skipped
(08:09):
or had a desire to do so.
And I was reminded she is achild, and she is enjoying life,
and it did something in me, itdid something in my heart, and I
thought, Lord, to be a childagain, to enjoy life, to be
carefree.
(08:29):
You know, it's easy to be heavy.
That is my natural state ofmind, is to be thinking about
all the things that I need tofigure out and all the problems
I need to solve and all theworries.
You know, that's my naturalstate of mind if I'm not
conscious of my state of mind.
It's easy to be heavy, but it'shard to be light.
(08:54):
You know, for me to be light, tobe carefree, it takes effort.
And see, that's so that seems socontradictory.
You know, it seems like it wouldjust be easier to be light, but
not for me.
It takes an act of my will tosay I will enjoy my life because
(09:15):
my natural state of mind, mydefault mode is work.
I'm gonna figure this out.
I'm gonna get all my work doneand then I'll rest.
And guys, if we if we live thatway, we'll never rest because
there'll always be anotherproblem to solve.
There'll always be something toworry about, you know, and that
that's what Sabbath is allabout.
(09:35):
Sabbath is saying, no, we'regonna rest now.
We're gonna rest now.
And a child, they enjoy it all.
They enjoy it all, the work andthe rest.
And I think there's something inthis scripture that, you know,
but he's saying, these are thethings that I value.
(09:56):
There is something in a child.
They're humble, they enjoy life,they love life, they love to
live, you know, they enjoy themoment.
They find the awe and the wonderin simple things.
My children, even now, if itrains and there's a rainbow,
everything stops.
(10:16):
We have to go outside.
We have to see how far therainbow goes.
We have to see if it's a doublerainbow.
Can we see both ends of therainbow?
I mean, we have to take photosof the rainbow and send it.
And I have teenagers, and everyone of us have to go on the
porch and see the rainbow.
And if it was just me andMichael, I don't know that we'd
(10:37):
ever do that.
We might mention it, we mightsay, hey, there's a rainbow
outside.
But kids make you pay attentionto things, to gifts that we
would otherwise miss.
They believe us.
You know, kids believe.
When you tell a kid something,if you're somebody they trust,
if you're somebody they look upto, and you tell them something,
(10:59):
they believe you and they trustyou and they will obey you.
They trust, they love freely.
They love freely.
Another instance this week, uh,was at the shop and this family
comes in pretty regular and theyhave a six-year-old, I think
(11:21):
she's six, maybe seven.
She's cute as a button, she isvery um personable, she's um
never met a stranger.
And this week she saw me, andI've always seen her behind the
counter, but this week I was onthe opposite side of the
counter.
I was on her side of thecounter, and so she walks to the
(11:41):
door and she runs up to me, shethrows her arms around my legs,
and it melted me.
And she just loved me.
She just freely loved me, andthat's what they do.
You know, unless you give them areason not to, they freely love
and they forgive quickly.
(12:02):
They they argue, they fight, butthey forgive quickly.
There's an innocence to a littlechild.
You know, there's they're veryhonest.
They're so honest that it hurts.
You know, if you don't want toknow what they think, then you
you really shouldn't ask them.
They have no filter.
And they want to help.
We have two at the shop, we havetwo tiny aprons.
(12:27):
And that's for the kids who comein who want to help.
So many times we'll get kids inthere and they want to pretend
they're a barista, they want topretend that they're making
drinks, and we'll give them ajob and we'll put that apron on
them because they want to help.
There's something about a childthat reminds us of the best
(12:47):
parts of ourselves.
If you're raising children, orif you're raising grandchildren,
or if you work with children, Ijust want to tell you that you
are doing holy work.
It matters.
The work you are doing matters.
And Jesus even says in versefive, you know, when you accept
(13:09):
one of these children, he evensays in this scripture, the last
verse, verse five, it says, andwhoso shall receive such a
child, such a little one in myname, receives me.
When you love that child, youare receiving Jesus.
When you make time for a child,you're making time for Jesus.
(13:31):
When you make room in your heartfor a child, you're making room
for Jesus.
That's holy work, that'simportant, that's kingdom
building.
You know, in this world, we sodevalue children, working with
children, raising children.
It it's it's one of those thingsthat it's like, well, that's
(13:54):
something we do if we have time.
No, that's just they'll they'llmake it.
Jesus puts great worth onchildren and on how we treat
them.
Raising our children for thekingdom is godly work, it's holy
(14:16):
work.
Telling our children aboutJesus, educating children,
discipling children, that iskingdom work.
It is not a small thing, youknow.
To the disciples, they wereworried about the big things.
I want to be big in the kingdom,I want to be important in the
(14:38):
kingdom.
What they wanted was to beimportant in the eyes of other
people.
But Jesus was trying to showthem who is important in the
eyes of God, what is importantin the eyes of God, and that was
these little ones.
And so he's asking us to flipthe switch of the things we
(15:00):
think are important and thethings he thinks is important.
He wants us to think like hethinks, and he thinks these
children are worth time andattention and energy and money
and our life.
And as you teach and train thosechildren, just remember that the
(15:20):
Lord is using those children toteach and to train you as well.
I encourage you, have ears tohear, have eyes to see the
lessons that God is teaching youthrough children.
That young lady skipping thisweek, it made my heart skip.
(15:44):
And God was was speaking to me.
Audrey, you need to loosen up,you need to enjoy something.
You need to loosen up, you needto enjoy life, you need to be
more light and not so muchbusiness.
You know, when that young, whenthat little girl, that
six-year-old, ran up and threwher arms around me, the Lord was
reminding me, you need to lovepeople, you need to love freely,
(16:09):
like this little child.
You need to take on the heavenlyqualities of a little child.
We can learn so much from them.
Yes, it's our job to teach themand train them and and help them
grow, but they help us grow too.
They remind us what the kingdomlooks like, they remind us what
(16:32):
God values, they remind us whatit what it's like to be humble,
what it feels like to enjoy lifeand not be self-conscious, not
be always thinking about whatpeople think about us, but
enjoying the life God gave us.
There's so many lessons theyteach us, so many more lessons.
I've learned so much more frommy children than I think I've
(16:56):
ever taught them.
They, and I I told somebody thisthis week, my children were the
sandpaper of my soul.
I had many rough edges.
I still do.
But they were like sandpaper,they helped to polish a lot of
my rough edges.
(17:16):
I remember a season when Istruggled with anger.
I did a whole podcast on it, andyou and I'll link that in the
show notes if you want to listento it.
But I had a season when I reallystruggled with anger when my
children were very young, verylittle.
And it was during a season whenI had just come home.
(17:36):
I just quit my nine to five tocome home to be a stay-at-home
mom, to be with them all day.
You know, I was going to be withthem all day long, and I did not
realize the amount of energy,the amount of mental and
physical energy it was going totake.
And I was going through a littlemini health crisis.
(17:58):
I was having a lot of issueswith my thyroid and my kidney
stones, and I was dealing withum some heart issues, and and it
was just it was like the perfectstorm.
And me trying to run aroundafter these little ones, I just
did not have the energy.
(18:18):
And so there would be times whenI would lose my cool and I would
yell at my children.
And I thought that, you know,there was the way I felt at the
moment is there's chaos allaround me.
And I just somehow I have to geta hold of the chaos, I have to
bring everything in order.
And the only way I knew to dothat was to raise my voice.
(18:39):
And I just want to tell you ifif you think that helps with the
chaos, if you think yellingbrings the chaos into order, it
doesn't.
It's like fighting fire withfire.
You just get a bigger fire.
And I knew I was wrong, and Iknew it was wrong, and I love my
children.
And the horror in their eyeswhen mama would go off was just
(19:02):
debilitating.
And then I it was a cycle, itwas just a bad cycle.
Things would escalate, I wouldescalate, I would catch myself,
I would repent, I would tellthem I'm sorry, I would tell God
I'm sorry.
And then I would never, I wouldsay, Lord, it'll never happen
again.
I'd tell them Mama is sorry,this will never happen again.
(19:24):
And then it happened again.
And so this spiral was going on.
It was a really bad cycle.
And the the longer it went on,the worse I felt about me.
And and it was like every timeit happened, I all I could hear
in my head is, You are a badmom.
You're a bad mom.
I'm such a bad mom.
And and it's like it built onitself.
(19:45):
It was like a seed that keptgrowing and growing and growing.
And I would pray and I would askthe Lord to help me, and I just
didn't see a way out.
During that time, a family thatwe know who had friends in
Germany had asked if one oftheir friends' daughters could
come and spend the summer withus.
(20:06):
She was 18-year-old from Germanywho wanted to come to the United
States and live with a familyand just see what you know what
the United States is like.
They had asked if she could staywith us, and I did not want to
bring somebody in because of me.
(20:28):
I was afraid that they would seethe ugly, they would see me and
see that I lost my temper and Ididn't always know what to do
with my children, and that I wasa bad mom.
I wanted to help out thisfamily.
I did not want somebody herebecause I was trying to get a
(20:52):
hold of me.
And I remember my husbandsaying, Well, maybe this will
help.
Maybe if she comes, she would bea little extra help for you, and
it would take some of thepressure off.
So, long story short, she endedup coming.
But that month before she came,I was preparing, you know, for
her and a room, and and I waspraying and I was saying, Lord,
(21:13):
please help me.
Help me to be a good host.
And most of all, Lord, help mewith my problem, help me with my
issues.
And he gave me a scriptureduring that time, Psalm 145, 8
and 9.
And it says, The Lord isgracious and compassionate, slow
to anger and rich in love.
The Lord is good to all, he hascompassion on all that he has
(21:38):
made.
And that became my scriptureduring that season, during that
month that she was here.
Because as my anger would start,the Lord would remind me and he
would say, and I would repeatthe scripture, and it was a
reminder to me that he isgracious, that God is gracious,
that he is compassionate, thathe's not mad at me, you know, he
(22:00):
is slow to anger, and he is richin love.
And he would remind me that'show I think towards you, that's
how I am towards you.
And just knowing that that's howhe felt towards me helped me to
be that way to my children.
And I would pray that way, Lord,help me like you are towards me.
Help me to be gracious andcompassionate and slow to anger
(22:22):
and rich in love.
Help me to have compassion on mychildren as you've had
compassion on me.
And it was like it, it it turnedthe cycle the other way.
Instead of it being a negativecycle feeding on itself, it
became, it turned into apositive cycle when I would feel
(22:42):
my anger rise or what I wouldfeel like everything was I was
losing control instead of losingmy temper, I would remind
myself, he is gracious with me.
He is not mad at me right now,he's not angry at me, he has
compassion on me and he lovesme, he's rich in love.
And so I would be able to lookat my children and have
(23:03):
compassion on them and be slowto anger with them and be rich
in love.
And it was like he reversed thecycle, he showed me another way.
And that was just one of manythings he did to help me in that
time period where I wasstruggling with anger and with
my physical health and my mentalhealth.
But it it reminded me that Goduses these children to change
(23:28):
me.
That that anger issue didn'tjust pop up because of children,
it was there the whole time, butit was underlying.
I didn't notice it.
If you'd asked me if I'd had ananger issue, I'd say no.
I'm I'm I don't have an angerissue at all.
But those things come to thesurface when we're going through
stressful situations, and theLord used my children and my
(23:48):
love for them.
Like I would do more for themthan I would for myself.
And so I would change for themmore than I would change for
myself because I wanted to beable to give them the mom that
they deserved.
I wanted to be able to give themthe love that they needed for a
lifetime, and I knew that myanger was not doing anything but
(24:10):
hurting them and not help, itcertainly wasn't helping them.
And it was making me feelcondemned all the time.
I was just walking around allthe time thinking, I am such a
bad mom.
And guys, when we think that,when like that's the the words
that's going on in your head,I'm such a bad mom, I'm such a
bad mom, then we do things tomake that true.
(24:30):
Like it, it's we it's who webelieve we are, so we act in
that way.
And what I had to do wasreprogram my mind by the word of
God that that's not who I am.
You know, this is the God Iserve, and by his grace, I'm
gonna be like him because he'smaking me into the image of
Christ.
And so they they do so much morefor us than we do for them.
(24:51):
And our love for them will causeus to do things for them that we
would not do for ourselves.
It helps us to change and to goto another level and another
level of maturity because youknow, there were times when I
had to realize I'm the adult inthe room.
I'm the adult, you know, I can'tcome to their level.
Yes, they're immature, they'rechildren.
(25:12):
I'm supposed to be the matureone.
And so it encouraged me, forcedme, if you will, to grow up and
to become the mature one.
And and I'm not, even now, I'mnot completely mature.
I'm still growing.
I'm still growing in Christ, butwe all are.
But he's gracious andcompassionate, slow to anger,
rich in love.
(25:33):
And I hope that this hasencouraged you today and
reminded you to look at childrenthrough the eyes of the Lord and
imitate the good things you seethere.
Yes, there's immaturity, it'sbecause they're children and
they're growing up, but theyknow some things we don't know.
They remember some things we'veforgotten.
(25:53):
You know, they enjoy life, theylive light, they notice the
little things, they believe andthey trust and they love freely
and they forgive quickly, andthey're humble, and we can learn
so much from them.
You know, they open up the doorto the kingdom in so many ways.
(26:15):
And, you know, God's blessed uswith them.
They are a blessing.
Children are a blessing from theLord.
I before we go, I want to praywith you today.
Father, I thank you for thesewho are listening.
I thank you that you havesomething to teach all of us
through children.
You use them as the example ofwhat it looks like to enter the
(26:37):
kingdom.
And I pray, Lord, that you wouldremind us of that and that you
would help us to want and desireto change and most of all to
believe that we can.
And Lord, I thank you for ourchildren.
I pray, God, that you would helpus to grow as they grow and help
us, Lord God, to see the lessonsyou're teaching us through them.
And we love you and weappreciate you and thank you for
(27:00):
loving us and and being graciouswith us, even through our nasty
attitudes.
You still love us, Lord.
In Jesus' name we thank you.
Amen.
Hello and welcome back to Grace for My Home.
I'm Audrey McCracken and I amdelighted to be back with you
again this week.
I hope that you're doing well.
We are.
We're doing great.
Lots going on right now.
My middle son Luke, he isgraduating from high school this
year.
This is his senior year, andthere's so much that goes on
(00:21):
during that senior year.
Our first to graduate was Davidlast year, our oldest son, and I
didn't realize it hit me soquickly with David.
I'm a little more prepared withLuke, but not much more.
I just remember that deadlinescome fast.
So I'm trying hard to stay ontop of those.
(00:42):
But this Friday, he has hislast, probably his last high
school football game.
He has a playoff game.
And so we're traveling about twohours, two and a half hours for
that.
And then on Monday, we're takinghim to a college he's interested
in.
And that's another two and ahalf hours in the opposite
direction.
And so we're we're busy, butit's it's a good busy.
(01:04):
You know, it's one of thosetimes when when you're just
praying with with him, you'repraying with, we're praying with
him, we're praying, you know,for him, that God would make his
plan sure, that God would showhim the way, because of course
we'll give him wisdom and tellhim what we think, but we really
want God to speak to him andshow him his plan and where he
(01:27):
needs to be and give him peacein that.
And so we're praying now thatthe right doors would be opened
and the wrong doors would beshut, and that we would know
there would just be a peacewhere, yes, this is where what
God has for you now.
So please pray for us.
Whereas we're in this time oftransition, you know, it's never
easy.
Every you think the next stageis going to be easier, but it's
(01:51):
it comes with its ownchallenges, it's a different
kind of heart.
And today I want to talk withyou about the heavenly qualities
of a child.
And if you have little ones athome or grandchildren, or if you
work with children, I think thiswill really speak to your heart.
(02:12):
But it's really a message forall of us because Jesus did not
direct it to one group ofpeople, he actually gave this
message or spoke these words tohis disciples, and they were
men.
They were men who were not, youknow, taking care of small kids.
But um, I when I was home withmy little ones, when they were
(02:33):
little and and I was with themall day, this this word really
encouraged me, and it helped meto get my eyes on um how God
sees kids, how God sees thesechildren, how important they are
to him, and therefore howimportant they should be to me.
But I want to read to you fromthe Gospel of Matthew, starting
(02:54):
in chapter 18, and I'm gonnaread the first five verses, and
I'm reading from the King JamesVersion because that's what I
had close.
It says, At the same time camethe disciples unto Jesus,
saying, Who is the greatest inthe kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus called a little childunto him, and set him in the
midst of them, and said, VerilyI say unto you, except ye be
(03:19):
converted and become as littlechildren, you shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humblehimself as this little child,
the same is greatest in thekingdom of heaven, and whoso
shall receive one such littlechild in my name receiveth me.
(03:41):
This seemed to be a theme amongthe disciples often through the
gospels we'll read where theywere discussing among
themselves, even arguing amongthemselves about who was going
to be greatest in the kingdom.
Because at this time they'restill expecting Jesus to set up
an earthly kingdom, and they gotJesus has told them that they
(04:02):
will rule and reign with him,and so they're trying to figure
out how is this gonna work?
You know, where am I gonna be inthis hierarchy?
And am I gonna be um importantin the kingdom?
What's my place gonna be in thekingdom?
And so they often discuss this,argued it out amongst
(04:22):
themselves, but this is aninstance when they actually went
to Jesus and said, Hey, justtell us, tell us, you know,
who's gonna be the greatest inthe kingdom?
And so he does something that's,I'm sure, completely unexpected.
He takes a little child, putsthat child right in the midst of
these men, and says, Unless youare changed, unless you are
(04:44):
converted and you become likethis little child, you can't
even enter the kingdom.
So it's not even a matter ofbeing first in the kingdom.
You can't even enter the kingdomuntil you become like a little
child.
He goes on to say that whoeverhumbles himself like this child,
that is who's going to be thegreatest in the kingdom.
(05:06):
And whoever receives this childin my name, he's receiving me.
So there's so much good stuff inhere, so much powerful
revelation in this scripture.
Jesus is like he does so often,he turns everything around.
It's not the kingdom isn't theway we think it should be.
(05:28):
You know, it's not an earthlykingdom, and it's not, it
doesn't go by the rules of thisworld.
You know, in another scripture,Jesus said, in this world, those
who are in authority lord itover others.
And he said, Not so in mykingdom.
My kingdom we serve, we serveeach other.
And so here he takes this childas and uses this child as an
(05:51):
example and tells the disciples,This is what I'm looking for.
This is what I value.
And when you value thequalities, the heavenly
qualities of this child, whenyou become like this child, then
you're ready.
Then you're ready to serve inthe kingdom, then you're ready
to do my will.
(06:13):
And the quality that hehighlighted was first of all the
humility of a child.
You know, a child, a smallchild, they're not
self-conscious.
They are just living life, youknow, they're just living life,
and they're not self-consciousyet.
And they're humble becausethey're they're not thinking
about themselves, they'reenjoying their world, they're
(06:36):
exploring their world, andthey're not afraid to to
experience life.
They're not afraid to laugh,they're not afraid to cry,
they're not afraid to just bethemselves because they have not
learned to be ashamed.
They're living in the moment andthey're not self-conscious.
Children enjoy life.
They laugh, they giggle, theyenjoy life.
(07:00):
And, you know, this week at thecoffee shop, I'll just share
something with you that reallystruck me.
You know, when I'm working atthe coffee shop, I'm I'm
working, it's a job, and youknow, I I want to make sure that
that our customers have a goodexperience and that we are doing
things as professional aspossible.
Well, and we have young women,young men who work with us, and
(07:25):
sometimes I forget that they'rethey're kids.
But I have a a young girl who'sworking with us and she's a
homeschool kid, and so she helpsus one day a week.
She is sweet as pie, butsometimes I forget that I'm
working with kids, and Ishouldn't, but I do.
(07:46):
This week she wanted to gosomewhere.
There was something downtown shewanted to go see, but she looks
older, she's tall and she looksolder.
And I remember opening up thedoor for her to go down the
street, and she skipped.
She skipped all the way down thestreet, and my heart jumped
because I thought, I don'tremember the last time I skipped
(08:09):
or had a desire to do so.
And I was reminded she is achild, and she is enjoying life,
and it did something in me, itdid something in my heart, and I
thought, Lord, to be a childagain, to enjoy life, to be
carefree.
(08:29):
You know, it's easy to be heavy.
That is my natural state ofmind, is to be thinking about
all the things that I need tofigure out and all the problems
I need to solve and all theworries.
You know, that's my naturalstate of mind if I'm not
conscious of my state of mind.
It's easy to be heavy, but it'shard to be light.
(08:54):
You know, for me to be light, tobe carefree, it takes effort.
And see, that's so that seems socontradictory.
You know, it seems like it wouldjust be easier to be light, but
not for me.
It takes an act of my will tosay I will enjoy my life because
(09:15):
my natural state of mind, mydefault mode is work.
I'm gonna figure this out.
I'm gonna get all my work doneand then I'll rest.
And guys, if we if we live thatway, we'll never rest because
there'll always be anotherproblem to solve.
There'll always be something toworry about, you know, and that
that's what Sabbath is allabout.
(09:35):
Sabbath is saying, no, we'regonna rest now.
We're gonna rest now.
And a child, they enjoy it all.
They enjoy it all, the work andthe rest.
And I think there's something inthis scripture that, you know,
but he's saying, these are thethings that I value.
(09:56):
There is something in a child.
They're humble, they enjoy life,they love life, they love to
live, you know, they enjoy themoment.
They find the awe and the wonderin simple things.
My children, even now, if itrains and there's a rainbow,
everything stops.
(10:16):
We have to go outside.
We have to see how far therainbow goes.
We have to see if it's a doublerainbow.
Can we see both ends of therainbow?
I mean, we have to take photosof the rainbow and send it.
And I have teenagers, and everyone of us have to go on the
porch and see the rainbow.
And if it was just me andMichael, I don't know that we'd
(10:37):
ever do that.
We might mention it, we mightsay, hey, there's a rainbow
outside.
But kids make you pay attentionto things, to gifts that we
would otherwise miss.
They believe us.
You know, kids believe.
When you tell a kid something,if you're somebody they trust,
if you're somebody they look upto, and you tell them something,
(10:59):
they believe you and they trustyou and they will obey you.
They trust, they love freely.
They love freely.
Another instance this week, uh,was at the shop and this family
comes in pretty regular and theyhave a six-year-old, I think
(11:21):
she's six, maybe seven.
She's cute as a button, she isvery um personable, she's um
never met a stranger.
And this week she saw me, andI've always seen her behind the
counter, but this week I was onthe opposite side of the
counter.
I was on her side of thecounter, and so she walks to the
(11:41):
door and she runs up to me, shethrows her arms around my legs,
and it melted me.
And she just loved me.
She just freely loved me, andthat's what they do.
You know, unless you give them areason not to, they freely love
and they forgive quickly.
(12:02):
They they argue, they fight, butthey forgive quickly.
There's an innocence to a littlechild.
You know, there's they're veryhonest.
They're so honest that it hurts.
You know, if you don't want toknow what they think, then you
you really shouldn't ask them.
They have no filter.
And they want to help.
We have two at the shop, we havetwo tiny aprons.
(12:27):
And that's for the kids who comein who want to help.
So many times we'll get kids inthere and they want to pretend
they're a barista, they want topretend that they're making
drinks, and we'll give them ajob and we'll put that apron on
them because they want to help.
There's something about a childthat reminds us of the best
(12:47):
parts of ourselves.
If you're raising children, orif you're raising grandchildren,
or if you work with children, Ijust want to tell you that you
are doing holy work.
It matters.
The work you are doing matters.
And Jesus even says in versefive, you know, when you accept
(13:09):
one of these children, he evensays in this scripture, the last
verse, verse five, it says, andwhoso shall receive such a
child, such a little one in myname, receives me.
When you love that child, youare receiving Jesus.
When you make time for a child,you're making time for Jesus.
(13:31):
When you make room in your heartfor a child, you're making room
for Jesus.
That's holy work, that'simportant, that's kingdom
building.
You know, in this world, we sodevalue children, working with
children, raising children.
It it's it's one of those thingsthat it's like, well, that's
(13:54):
something we do if we have time.
No, that's just they'll they'llmake it.
Jesus puts great worth onchildren and on how we treat
them.
Raising our children for thekingdom is godly work, it's holy
(14:16):
work.
Telling our children aboutJesus, educating children,
discipling children, that iskingdom work.
It is not a small thing, youknow.
To the disciples, they wereworried about the big things.
I want to be big in the kingdom,I want to be important in the
(14:38):
kingdom.
What they wanted was to beimportant in the eyes of other
people.
But Jesus was trying to showthem who is important in the
eyes of God, what is importantin the eyes of God, and that was
these little ones.
And so he's asking us to flipthe switch of the things we
(15:00):
think are important and thethings he thinks is important.
He wants us to think like hethinks, and he thinks these
children are worth time andattention and energy and money
and our life.
And as you teach and train thosechildren, just remember that the
(15:20):
Lord is using those children toteach and to train you as well.
I encourage you, have ears tohear, have eyes to see the
lessons that God is teaching youthrough children.
That young lady skipping thisweek, it made my heart skip.
(15:44):
And God was was speaking to me.
Audrey, you need to loosen up,you need to enjoy something.
You need to loosen up, you needto enjoy life, you need to be
more light and not so muchbusiness.
You know, when that young, whenthat little girl, that
six-year-old, ran up and threwher arms around me, the Lord was
reminding me, you need to lovepeople, you need to love freely,
(16:09):
like this little child.
You need to take on the heavenlyqualities of a little child.
We can learn so much from them.
Yes, it's our job to teach themand train them and and help them
grow, but they help us grow too.
They remind us what the kingdomlooks like, they remind us what
(16:32):
God values, they remind us whatit what it's like to be humble,
what it feels like to enjoy lifeand not be self-conscious, not
be always thinking about whatpeople think about us, but
enjoying the life God gave us.
There's so many lessons theyteach us, so many more lessons.
I've learned so much more frommy children than I think I've
(16:56):
ever taught them.
They, and I I told somebody thisthis week, my children were the
sandpaper of my soul.
I had many rough edges.
I still do.
But they were like sandpaper,they helped to polish a lot of
my rough edges.
(17:16):
I remember a season when Istruggled with anger.
I did a whole podcast on it, andyou and I'll link that in the
show notes if you want to listento it.
But I had a season when I reallystruggled with anger when my
children were very young, verylittle.
And it was during a season whenI had just come home.
(17:36):
I just quit my nine to five tocome home to be a stay-at-home
mom, to be with them all day.
You know, I was going to be withthem all day long, and I did not
realize the amount of energy,the amount of mental and
physical energy it was going totake.
And I was going through a littlemini health crisis.
(17:58):
I was having a lot of issueswith my thyroid and my kidney
stones, and I was dealing withum some heart issues, and and it
was just it was like the perfectstorm.
And me trying to run aroundafter these little ones, I just
did not have the energy.
(18:18):
And so there would be times whenI would lose my cool and I would
yell at my children.
And I thought that, you know,there was the way I felt at the
moment is there's chaos allaround me.
And I just somehow I have to geta hold of the chaos, I have to
bring everything in order.
And the only way I knew to dothat was to raise my voice.
(18:39):
And I just want to tell you ifif you think that helps with the
chaos, if you think yellingbrings the chaos into order, it
doesn't.
It's like fighting fire withfire.
You just get a bigger fire.
And I knew I was wrong, and Iknew it was wrong, and I love my
children.
And the horror in their eyeswhen mama would go off was just
(19:02):
debilitating.
And then I it was a cycle, itwas just a bad cycle.
Things would escalate, I wouldescalate, I would catch myself,
I would repent, I would tellthem I'm sorry, I would tell God
I'm sorry.
And then I would never, I wouldsay, Lord, it'll never happen
again.
I'd tell them Mama is sorry,this will never happen again.
(19:24):
And then it happened again.
And so this spiral was going on.
It was a really bad cycle.
And the the longer it went on,the worse I felt about me.
And and it was like every timeit happened, I all I could hear
in my head is, You are a badmom.
You're a bad mom.
I'm such a bad mom.
And and it's like it built onitself.
(19:45):
It was like a seed that keptgrowing and growing and growing.
And I would pray and I would askthe Lord to help me, and I just
didn't see a way out.
During that time, a family thatwe know who had friends in
Germany had asked if one oftheir friends' daughters could
come and spend the summer withus.
(20:06):
She was 18-year-old from Germanywho wanted to come to the United
States and live with a familyand just see what you know what
the United States is like.
They had asked if she could staywith us, and I did not want to
bring somebody in because of me.
(20:28):
I was afraid that they would seethe ugly, they would see me and
see that I lost my temper and Ididn't always know what to do
with my children, and that I wasa bad mom.
I wanted to help out thisfamily.
I did not want somebody herebecause I was trying to get a
(20:52):
hold of me.
And I remember my husbandsaying, Well, maybe this will
help.
Maybe if she comes, she would bea little extra help for you, and
it would take some of thepressure off.
So, long story short, she endedup coming.
But that month before she came,I was preparing, you know, for
her and a room, and and I waspraying and I was saying, Lord,
(21:13):
please help me.
Help me to be a good host.
And most of all, Lord, help mewith my problem, help me with my
issues.
And he gave me a scriptureduring that time, Psalm 145, 8
and 9.
And it says, The Lord isgracious and compassionate, slow
to anger and rich in love.
The Lord is good to all, he hascompassion on all that he has
(21:38):
made.
And that became my scriptureduring that season, during that
month that she was here.
Because as my anger would start,the Lord would remind me and he
would say, and I would repeatthe scripture, and it was a
reminder to me that he isgracious, that God is gracious,
that he is compassionate, thathe's not mad at me, you know, he
(22:00):
is slow to anger, and he is richin love.
And he would remind me that'show I think towards you, that's
how I am towards you.
And just knowing that that's howhe felt towards me helped me to
be that way to my children.
And I would pray that way, Lord,help me like you are towards me.
Help me to be gracious andcompassionate and slow to anger
(22:22):
and rich in love.
Help me to have compassion on mychildren as you've had
compassion on me.
And it was like it, it it turnedthe cycle the other way.
Instead of it being a negativecycle feeding on itself, it
became, it turned into apositive cycle when I would feel
(22:42):
my anger rise or what I wouldfeel like everything was I was
losing control instead of losingmy temper, I would remind
myself, he is gracious with me.
He is not mad at me right now,he's not angry at me, he has
compassion on me and he lovesme, he's rich in love.
And so I would be able to lookat my children and have
(23:03):
compassion on them and be slowto anger with them and be rich
in love.
And it was like he reversed thecycle, he showed me another way.
And that was just one of manythings he did to help me in that
time period where I wasstruggling with anger and with
my physical health and my mentalhealth.
But it it reminded me that Goduses these children to change
(23:28):
me.
That that anger issue didn'tjust pop up because of children,
it was there the whole time, butit was underlying.
I didn't notice it.
If you'd asked me if I'd had ananger issue, I'd say no.
I'm I'm I don't have an angerissue at all.
But those things come to thesurface when we're going through
stressful situations, and theLord used my children and my
(23:48):
love for them.
Like I would do more for themthan I would for myself.
And so I would change for themmore than I would change for
myself because I wanted to beable to give them the mom that
they deserved.
I wanted to be able to give themthe love that they needed for a
lifetime, and I knew that myanger was not doing anything but
(24:10):
hurting them and not help, itcertainly wasn't helping them.
And it was making me feelcondemned all the time.
I was just walking around allthe time thinking, I am such a
bad mom.
And guys, when we think that,when like that's the the words
that's going on in your head,I'm such a bad mom, I'm such a
bad mom, then we do things tomake that true.
(24:30):
Like it, it's we it's who webelieve we are, so we act in
that way.
And what I had to do wasreprogram my mind by the word of
God that that's not who I am.
You know, this is the God Iserve, and by his grace, I'm
gonna be like him because he'smaking me into the image of
Christ.
And so they they do so much morefor us than we do for them.
(24:51):
And our love for them will causeus to do things for them that we
would not do for ourselves.
It helps us to change and to goto another level and another
level of maturity because youknow, there were times when I
had to realize I'm the adult inthe room.
I'm the adult, you know, I can'tcome to their level.
Yes, they're immature, they'rechildren.
(25:12):
I'm supposed to be the matureone.
And so it encouraged me, forcedme, if you will, to grow up and
to become the mature one.
And and I'm not, even now, I'mnot completely mature.
I'm still growing.
I'm still growing in Christ, butwe all are.
But he's gracious andcompassionate, slow to anger,
rich in love.
(25:33):
And I hope that this hasencouraged you today and
reminded you to look at childrenthrough the eyes of the Lord and
imitate the good things you seethere.
Yes, there's immaturity, it'sbecause they're children and
they're growing up, but theyknow some things we don't know.
They remember some things we'veforgotten.
(25:53):
You know, they enjoy life, theylive light, they notice the
little things, they believe andthey trust and they love freely
and they forgive quickly, andthey're humble, and we can learn
so much from them.
You know, they open up the doorto the kingdom in so many ways.
(26:15):
And, you know, God's blessed uswith them.
They are a blessing.
Children are a blessing from theLord.
I before we go, I want to praywith you today.
Father, I thank you for thesewho are listening.
I thank you that you havesomething to teach all of us
through children.
You use them as the example ofwhat it looks like to enter the
(26:37):
kingdom.
And I pray, Lord, that you wouldremind us of that and that you
would help us to want and desireto change and most of all to
believe that we can.
And Lord, I thank you for ourchildren.
I pray, God, that you would helpus to grow as they grow and help
us, Lord God, to see the lessonsyou're teaching us through them.
And we love you and weappreciate you and thank you for
(27:00):
loving us and and being graciouswith us, even through our nasty
attitudes.
You still love us, Lord.
In Jesus' name we thank you.
Amen.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.