Children are Good for the Soul

“The soul is healed by being with children.” Fyodor Dostoevsky

This past weekend I was reminded again of the wonderful blessing that children are and the lessons that they have to teach us. I took my oldest daughter camping and she reawakened me to the simple blessings of life. A child’s ability to enjoy life in the most simplistic sense is beautiful. I mean, who would think in these days of air conditioning, cable tv, wii’s, and cable modems that living outside for a day in the heat, away from the luxuries of our modern life could provide so much joy and contentment? Through the eyes of children are we reminded of such wonders. We would be wise to relearn such simple pleasures and take notice of what we often consider mundane. We should literally stop and engage our senses in His creation more often.

But even beyond the lessons that children teach us, there seems to be something uniquely spiritual about being with children. Too often we hear of the burdens that children bring to our lives, and that’s a shame. Children force us to give up some things, chiefly time for ourselves, but that’s good for us, that also teaches us much about God and our relationship with Him. But I digress again.

Dostoevsky was right, children do heal our souls, they are themselves a vital part of creation, the fruit of the covenant, the perfect illustration of how to receive God, they play an important role in our own redemption as a people of God. I could not imagine a world without children. The movie Children of Men, adapted from P.D. James’ novel, depicts a future world that is infertile, without children, and it’s a world in total collapse, not only because of future extinction, which seems to be the cause of misery portrayed in the movie, but also because the laughter, joy, and excitement of childhood has been removed. I would imagine a very sad world without the existence of children. Children, perhaps more than anything else in creation, are the greatest evidence of God and their presence keeps Him ever present in our world. A world without children would be as good as a world without God. The covenant to be fruitful and multiply isn’t simply utilitarian, it is a divine covenant of grace. What an incredible God to give us children, we should cherish them and learn from them.