He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2-4

I had written it on the board and had been telling the children for 3 weeks prior that the school trip was approaching. We had been doing a count down and now the day was finally here.

‘Ok, off you go to lunch, then after you come back and we take the register, we will go out and get on the bus.’

The first hand went up. ‘Yes, Lucy!’

“Will we be going out for afternoon play?” ‘No Lucy, we be at the theatre.’

The next hand went up. “Will we be going out for afternoon play?”

‘I thought I just answered that question? No we will be at the theatre. Now off you go to dinner.’

As the children lined up for dinner, Josh paused as he was going through the door. “Mr Christie, will we be going out for afternoon play?” This was my first trip I had been on with a year 2 class. I thought that he was winding me up but the expression on his face told me he was serious. ‘No, Josh we will be at the theatre.’ I could hear the tone of my voice getter slightly harsher and I took a deep breath as I counted then out of the classroom. The twins stopped. I knew what was coming. “Mr Christie, why aren’t we having afternoon play, it’s not fair!”

‘Girls we won’t be here, we’ll be at the theatre – now go to lunch as your class had already gone ahead!’

My Teaching assistant caught my eye and sniggered. She could tell I was getting wound up. I shook my head and smiled. Yes I had let it get to me. Why were they asking me the same question? Didn’t they hear the explanation? Weren’t they listening? Then it struck me.

I, no, we do the same thing with God. How many times do we go to him with past guilt, confessed and forgiven sins, broken promises? Yet time and time again he listens, comforts and forgives us. Maybe we all need to be a little more childlike.

Is it just me or do we all need to daily exercise a little more patience with each other? Why not begin today.

Kirk Franklin sings ‘Love.’ Click on the picture to listen.