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Jesus said "You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. - Matthew 11:25

My parents are visiting this week, and being around them always reminds me of being a girl in small town Marianna, Arkansas. It was a farming community that practiced all of the rules of any good Southern town: no white shoes between Labor Day and Easter, anyone older than you was always addressed with a title, and girls NEVER called boys.

Our neighborhood was up on this tree-covered ridge, which kept us from being flooded by the often overflowing Mississippi River. We had this great 3-story house that was just old enough to have all the important features for childhood imagination. There was a mysterious room under the house and a huge attic filled with furniture, old clothes, and this whole-house fan that could cut a grown man in two. We would play up there for hours at a time. Now that I'm a mom with kids-prone-to-drag-things-out, I'm sure the messes we made up there drove my mother crazy.

In one corner of the attic, we had at least 8 mattresses that lined the wall and the floor-the Goins Family Wrestling Ring. My twin sister, Michelle, and I were stupid enough to play tag-team wrestling with our 2 older brothers who loved beating us up in a sanctioned setting.

Even with the wrestling and sometimes the bickering, those were peaceful days. Right was right. Wrong was wrong. We went to school, mowed yards, played basketball with the neighbor kids, and sat down every night to a dinner like I've never had since. My favorite was fried pork chops with rice and gravy, and cornbread sticks with sorghum for dessert! Time moved so slowly that turning into a grown-up had to be a fairy tale.

And in the simple-ness of those days, it seemed like God was right there at my shoulder. Remember the story where people were bringing their children to Jesus so he could touch them? The disciples got annoyed and wanted the kids to go away. But Jesus said, "Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all" (Luke 18:16-17). Another time Jesus said "You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants." There is something about the heart of a child that God likes, that He can speak to, and that He wants us to have. Childhood has a way of making us open to God's life lessons. That's what we'll talk about in the next few weeks.

"Voice of Inspiration" from Andy Castro

Mangled Mind-Psalms 91:15