CHILDLIKE SELF
As a new mental health therapist with less than two years of full-time experience, I find myself falling into the trap of wanting to be the ‘expert’ - to be the most knowledgeable, to have all the answers, and to have the perfect solutions for seemingly complicated problems. However, I have also learned that most of my clients don’t appreciate this. Parents have admitted to using ChatGPT for parenting advice before coming to me, their child’s own therapist. Wise words I’ve been repeating to my teen clients for the last year will finally resonate when some friend says it in the same way at just the right time. And my younger clients? Nothing is heard until you’ve earned their trust to even be listened to in the first place.
And I feel especially humbled by these younger clients. As children, they seemingly know ‘nothing’, but every one of my young clients are incredibly present, observant, and have no problem expressing their wants and needs - whether with their words or subconsciously through their actions. They’re just so… them without any pretense, masks, or disclaimers needed. So working with these children, while subverting my egoic need to know-it-all, has also drawn me to be the most ‘me’ I’ve ever been: a childlike Liz that is very bright, open, honest, and present.
And so as I grapple with both sides of myself, my ‘expert’ self and my ‘childlike’ self, it has me pondering today's Gospel reading. If Father God was to reveal all these beautiful truths to our ‘expert’ selves, our response could range from a passive “OK cool thanks”, to a more tempting response to use this knowledge to bolster our pride and herald ourselves as knower-of-all-things. A path that leads ultimately to self-resiliency or pursuing knowledge and wisdom for personal gain alone. A path that may ‘feel good’ but abandons God.
But if Father God revealed these beautiful truths to our childlike selves, our response could also range from “OK cool thanks” to… a deep desire to know more. An “a-hah!” that makes us curious, makes us ponder, and makes us wonder what else this Father of ours could teach us. And so if we turn to him in our childlikeness, we are drawn into even deeper relationship with Him. And if we’re drawn into deeper relationship with him, then we get to know him. And if we know Him… then we learn to love Him, and even better, we learn how much He loves us.
So, like Jesus, I also give praise to Father God who has hidden these truths from the wise and learned, and has revealed them to the childlike. Because it’s in our childlikeness that we not only gain wisdom and knowledge, but we become acquainted with God’s unconditional love.
In what ways is God cultivating a childlike spirit in you? What makes it challenging to approach God with a childlike spirit? What makes it easy? And what is one practice you can commit to this Advent to access your ‘childlike’ self in order to be more receptive to God’s Word?
Liz Tapang
Photo credit: Charlein Gracia - Unsplash