Little children are reminders of heaven's innocence

I guess for most of us childhood has receded so far back into our memory banks that it will be an almost impossible task to remember all that we should remember.

That is why there are always children criss-crossing our paths. They are there to remind us that only with a child-like temperament can we hope to regain some of our precious bearings which we have abandoned as soon as we entered adulthood.

Some people are lucky. They almost never lose their innocent traits. They may be 80 and look their age but when they talk to you, they have the zest and wide-eyed innocence of a six-year-old. No, they have not entered the domain of senility.

Nowadays whenever, I look into a child's eyes, I remember myself. I recall vividly all the fun and laughter that are part and parcel of growing up. Nothing is difficult when you are young. Problems were just "happenings". It's only when we "grow up", we begin to conform to the rules laid down by our senior peers.

Why should that be so? Why can't we treat life like it was when we were young. We can stare at so-called woes and laugh.

Notice how children will cry woefully and then be laughing the very next minute. That's the wonderful thing about being a chld. First you cry because you think your world has ended, then you laught before you know everything will be all right.

I like children, most of them anyway. They tend to give you that shy, sneaking smile and tend to peek at you from behind the sofa or behind their mother's legs. Every child thinks the whole world evolves around him, and he's right, too, in a way.

That early innocence can later mutate and transformed into a not-so-innocent attitude like "the whole world owes me a living".

When you are a child, a lot of people will forgive you for your misdemeaners. But don't try that again when you are a young adult.

I once told an expectant mother-to-be that children are our second chance at regaining the innocence of our childhood. Children tells us that it's all right to cry, to laugh and to love all over again even if we are rejected and spurned. There's no place in a child's heart for grudges.

If we can forgive and love like a child, then there's salvation for us yet. In the meantime, take time out to be a child. Observe how a child sleeps, and toss around in his cot. The baby does it most charmingly and innocently. He bawls when he wants to, and laughs aloud infectiously without any forethought or motive.

That's why he's such a child. That's how we must be too if we want to re-enter the kingdom of heaven.