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| Dale Gibson – “Mr. 600” |
Quick announcement: Yesterday, Dale Gibson became my official 600th public follower. Now I know that 600 is not really a lot, when compared to say, Kim Kardashian, who has nearly 17 million Twitter followers. If I had to choose, I would still rather be me – with Dale Gibson by my digital side – than Kim Kardashian. Or Chloe.
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Guest Post Backstory: A few weeks ago, Viki Bailey, Melissa Catmull, Colin Booth and I were exploring deep doctrinal concepts in a conversation on Facebook, when Colin let slip that he had a picture of himself as a child, dressed up as cupid. Well of course this was like the sound of a can of DIet Coke being opened in Relief Society, and we pounced. Eventually we were able to convince Colin to release the photo. However, he did manage to leverage a guest post out of the deal. This was a good thing, because Colin is an insightful guy, and I consider it an honor to post his first guest post.
First, the photo:
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| Ahhhhh. |
Next, the guest post:
Becoming as little children – by Colin Booth
Last week, during family scripture study, we were reading in Mosiah Chapter 3 when we came across the following passage: “but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children.” After tiptoeing around the word damnation (we don’t want the 2 year-old to pick that up), my wife and I tried to explain to our young children which aspects of “becoming as little children” King Benjamin was referring to. We asked the kids what they thought it meant. When they gave answers like “how kids do homework” or “practice the piano,” we realized they needed an explanation. King Benjamin elaborates in his famous “natural man” verse that little children are: submissive meek, and humble. Have you ever tried to explain those words to small children? It didn’t work very well.
We had a little more success explaining that little children are forgiving. Like how they can hit or tease each other one minute and be playing happily the next. (In the course of writing this, one of my kids hit another one. He was promptly sent into time-out. I went just now to his room to retrieve him and found the sibling he hit playing with him. Like I said: forgiving.) I think it’s a child’s forgiving nature that Paul was referring to when he said: “Brethren, be not children in understanding, howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.”
I’ve been a part of numerous discussions wherein the difference between the terms “childlike” and “childish” were illustrated. It’s easy to come up with childish examples: stubborn, spiteful, annoying, selfish, selective-hearing, forgetful, pouty, destructive, etc. King Benjamin gave us a list of childlike qualities: submissive meek, humble, patient, full of love, and willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him. If most of us were asked what it means to become like a little child, we could come up with most or all of these answers. And on the surface, these are the right answers. But there’s more to it than that. In his mortal ministry, when the Savior was asked by his disciples who the greatest in the kingdom of heaven was, he responded:
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
So humility is the final answer, right? Wrong. It’s a great start, but it’s not enough. I’m not sure why it never occurred to me before, but it hit me today like a ton of bricks. The single most important characteristic of little children is they “are not capable of committing sin (Moroni 8:8).” THEY ARE SINLESS. If we are to be saved, we need to become sinless like little children. It’s right there in King Benjamin’s speech: “And even if it were possible that little children could sin they could not be saved; but I say unto you they are blessed… even so the blood of Christ atoneth for their sins.” I have always known and believed the beautiful doctrine that children under the age of accountability are automatically saved. I just never knew how that applied to me. I grew out of my free pass a long time ago.
Maybe your wards are more righteous than mine, but I never remember “sinless” being written on the board in the lesson about becoming like little children. Of course, you can’t become sinless without becoming submissive, meek, humble etc, but the ultimate goal is to become sinless. Although Jesus can’t be with us all the time in this fallen world, we have celestial beings in our midst. While “sinless” may not always be the first word I think of when I’m dealing with my small children, how blessed I am to have these shining examples of what I need to become right in front of me every day. Mormon, in Moroni Chapter 8, showed us the way. All we parents have to do is to “repent and be baptized, and humble {our}selves as {our} little children and {we} shall all be saved with {our} little children.”
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Thanks Colin!
Omigosh! That’s brilliant!
The guest post was great, too 😉
Seriously tho, very moving and I am so gonna do this lesson for FHE! Thanks!
Wait, what is brilliant? Exploiting your little brother to get a date?
In keeping with the new “much, much better” countdown widget, I’ve always thought of hobbits as embodying many of the right aspects of becoming like a little child. They can be self-centered and use too much pipe-weed, but they’re usually content, joyful, dedicated, loyal, and utterly without guile.
I loved what President Uchtdorf said Sunday about becoming as children in being joyful to accept gifts.
This is a great post, my 4 year old frequently asks me questions about being good vs evil and listening/not listening to the Holy Ghost and Satan. He obviously doesn’t get it but tries. Those kinds of conversations bring out the sinless in him because although he gets mad and hits his brother he doesn’t get evil or fall into temptation.
Anyway, I like.
-Paige
First – love the freakin cupid picture! So many blackmail opportunites, so little time. Kudos to your sister for bringing it up.
Second – never thought about “being as a little child” and “sinless” in the same context, but now that you explain it like that – it makes total sense! I also really love the example and reminder of how forgiving little children are.
I could stand to learn a thing or two.
Great guest post – well done!
I never recall “sinless” being written on the board either, but what a beautiful concept. Thanks for sharing.
I’m just glad I wasn’t alone in my epiphany. Thanks for the kind words everyone.
Excellent guest post – really some inspiring thoughts to ponder on . . . Colin – would love to see more!
Kristin
Phew, that’s a relief. I should also note that the kids in the pots are mine. I take at least half the credit for how cute they are.
Amen, cousin!
I don’t know if you can run for public office now that your cupid picture has been on the internet, but the post was great! 🙂
Mind blown. (no comments on how that isn’t hard to do)
That was a really great post.
Thanks, this was great.
Yes, I was the one who mentioned the Cupid picture, but it was totally worth it! Great thoughts Colin! I’m proud to be your sister.
Thanks, Nancy. That means a lot.
Good insights. Great post.
Ditto!! 😉
This really hit home today because my first born is 8 TODAY. We were just talking to her about how she can now be tempted by Satan and how important it is to fight against those temptations. Thank you for your insight!
For the record, I didn’t let it slip. My sister spilled the beans (that’s what I get for introducing her to the blog). To get them off my back, I said I’d reveal the picture if MMM let me do a guestpost. To my chagrine, he immediately agreed.
Thank you Colin. A VERY good post. I learned something new and helpful, which is always a good thing.
Excellent!! Great points for thought! I appreciate it….oh and I appreciate the pictures, too. =) I’m NEVER revealing any to MMM….;) I’ll just keep sending him bacon pictures.