The Conversation

I watched the little girl approach the manger display.
It was one of those plastic manger scenes that people have on their front lawns.
Her mother stopped to talk to someone she knew.
They were talking in front of the Christmas trees.

I watched the little girl stand in front of the Baby Jesus.
I saw her look over at her mother.
I saw her turn her eyes back towards the manger scene in front of her.
I was mesmerized by what followed.

The little girl began to play.
The figures were too big for her to touch.
But she could imagine.
She could have them speak and act as she stood there before them.

She seemed to want to get into the scene with them.
It was the Baby Jesus that seemed to call to her.
She got down on her knees the way little children do.
She began to talk in her animated little girl way.

Jesus, are you cold?
Do you need another blanket?
Don’t cry; I know you’re hungry.
I wish I could keep you warm.

I watched her converse with the Baby Jesus.
Such sweetness.
Such tenderness.
The uninhibited heart of a child.

This little child grasped the humanity of Jesus.
Hopefully, her parents will tell her about the divinity of Jesus.
He was not just any baby in the manger.
He is God’s Son.

To this little girl, the Baby Jesus was as real as any baby in the store.
She continued to talk to Him.
Christmas is coming and Nana is coming home, she continued.
Mommy is cooking a big dinner for all of us.

Her mother turned towards her little girl when she heard, Mommy.
She turned back when she realized her little girl was just playing.
I was looking for an item nearby and could still hear her talking.
I know you can make Pop-Pop better; it’s Christmas time, she said so sweetly.

The White Witch of Narnia knew about Christmas.
That’s why she made sure that it was always winter and never Christmas.
If you know Jesus, it is always Christmas.
Christmas is always in your heart.

The innocence of this little girl was so refreshing.
To her it is always Christmas.
If the manger was displayed in the summer, her conversation would be the same.
The Baby Jesus is real to her.

An adult may pat her on the head and say, how cute.
It is more than cute.
She came to Jesus exactly the way He wants us all to come to Him.
He wants us to come to Him like a child.

I just so happened to be reading the book, A Praying Life, by Paul E. Miller.
I just so happened to have finished the chapter on learning to talk with your Father.
Miller asks the question: How do we learn to talk with our Father?
He answers: By asking like a child, believing like a child, and even playing like a child.

Children are supremely confident of their parent’s love and power. Instinctively, they trust. They believe their parents want to do them good. If you know your parent loves and protects you, it fills your world with possibility. You chatter away with what is on your heart. It works the same in the world of prayer. If you learn to pray, you learn to dream again. I say “again” because every child naturally dreams and hopes. To learn how to pray is to enter the world of a child, where all things are possible…But as we get older, we get less naive and more cynical. Disappointment and broken promises are the norm instead of hoping and dreaming. Our childlike faith dies a thousand little deaths. (Paul E. Miller)

An adult would never have stopped and talked to Baby Jesus like this little girl.
It’s just plastic, a stuffy grown-up might say.
The little girl was talking to Jesus as easily as she would have talked to her mom.
She just kept sharing her heart right there in the aisle while she was on her knees.

It was not the posture that was important.
It was not the place that was important.
It is the Person.
It is the real Person she was talking to that made all the difference.

Watch a child before a manger and be refreshed.
Listen to a child talk to Jesus and be renewed.
Then go and do the same thing.
Lay aside your stuffy adult self and become like a child.

Miller suggests that learning to pray is learning to play again.

Think for a minute. How do we structure our adult conversations? We don’t. Especially when talking with old friends, the conversation bounces from subject to subject. It has a fun, meandering, play-like quality. Why would our prayer time be any different? After all God is a person…when your mind starts wandering in prayer, be like a child. Don’t worry about being organized or staying on task…remember you are in conversation with a Person. Instead of beating yourself up, learn to play again. Pray about what your mind is wandering to. Maybe it is something that is important to you. Maybe the Spirit is nudging you to think about something else. (Paul E. Miller)

This little girl needed no help to become like a child.
Her conversation with Jesus was all over the place.
Her conversation with Jesus could not have been any sweeter.
She challenged me with her honest chatter.

Her mother finished her conversation.
You are such a good girl. Who were you talking to? She asked as she held her hand.
The Baby Jesus, the little girl said with certainty.
He was cold and hungry, Mommy.

The mother led her little girl towards the cash register.
If she heard her child’s answer, she didn’t respond.
She placed her things on the counter.
Her little girl was still talking about the Baby Jesus.

Oh, that the Baby Jesus be so real to us as well.
The Son of God was cold and hungry just like the little girl said.
The Son of God needed His diaper changed and needed to be burped.
The Son of God needed sleep and the tender touch of his mother.

In her innocence, the little girl seemed to know that truth.
We bring our skepticism to the manger.
We bring our stuffy, know-it-all attitude to the stable.
Our adult selves keep us from the childlike faith Jesus expects.

And He said, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)

Go ahead, play again.
Chatter away to Your Father.
Ask like a child, believe like a child, and play like a child.
Remember that everything is possible.