Connecting with God: Embracing Your Inner Child

I’ve wanted to connect with God on a deep level for as long as I can remember. There were times when I knew and felt that presence around me and within me. Why wouldn’t we all have that experience all the time, or at least much of the time? I knew that whenever I wasn’t feeling it, it was me that was disconnected. Holy Spirit talks with all of us, all the time. I got to experience that first-hand when my husband was having open dialogue with them for eight years. David counseled with a lot of people and often it was his Holy Spirit speaking to them through him. We didn’t share that with anyone. They told us not to. I don’t know why, but I imagine because of the backlash he would have gotten. People wouldn’t have accepted it, and probably would have rejected David. We didn’t care that no one knew. They didn’t need to. David would ask Holy Spirit, “Why us?”. They told us that they talk to everyone, but most people don’t listen. We did.

So why David? Why did he hear them? It would do little good to describe my husband. Our experience with his Holy Spirit ended when he passed in 2020. If you knew David, you’d relate to some of what I’m sharing. Most people reading this would have never met him. This is more about you, anyway, and your connection. There’s a scripture that refers to something Jesus shared… Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. That’s Matthew 18: 3. And then there’s Luke 17:20-21 …The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, ²¹ nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst!

People have many different interpretations of each of those verses. I can only relate from my own experience, mostly being around the kiddos when I was still teaching church classes. When they were in open play time, they were fully immersed in the moment. They played together without judgment. They’d play with any willing partner. You just had to show up and join in. They were in the moment. They cared for and nurtured each other in their play experiences. They didn’t judge when another child was misbehaving, they just wanted them to be good. They were very honest and authentic. They were trusting and open. They were incredibly intelligent and inquisitive. And some of them were just walking love spheres. You could feel them when they entered the room. A few were on the spectrum. They were the special ones (I’ll discuss more on autistic kids in a future post). It wasn’t hard to tell which of the children were lovingly nurtured at home, and allowed to be children. My hat’s off to those parents! These were my living examples of the children Jesus referred to. I believe that’s what he was talking about. What would life on the planet be like if we were all like that?

I also love that Luke verse…the kingdom of God is in your midst! That’s the NIV version. The New King James says…For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you. So many versions and reinterpretations of interpretations. Even the scholars through the ages can’t agree on what Jesus meant, or even actually said. So, I gotta go with what I know. God and Heaven isn’t something outside of us, it’s a part of us, and it’s all around us. We experience it through our feelings, our intuitions, and when we open our inner vision, we can see it. It’s just at a different frequency. When we are being love, we are open to possibilities. We see the world through open eyes. We pay attention to things that resonate with our new beingness. It’s like falling in love; innocent, unconditional love. You remember, right? Your first love, or when you first met your partner, your soulmate. Or when your first child was born, or your second or third! Or the new puppy, or the miracle that came true. That loving energy that you felt welled up from within you. That love moves you to do extraordinary things, doesn’t it? You forgive everybody of everything. You don’t care what other people are doing. In that space, heck, you’ll love them too! God is all love, creator. We, being his children, are that too. When we get a sense of that, when we have those experiences, we know where God is; within, and all around us. We know we are all connected. And that’s a great indication of where Heaven is.

If being like a little child resonates with you, and you’re not doing it, here’s your permission slip. I’m focusing on that myself. My responsible adult side would never allow me to express myself in a public forum. But there’s other kids out there to connect with, that want to express too. The world needs more children; grown up children. David was my example. So were those kids. Holy Spirit was like them, only in a bigger way. Being like a child doesn’t mean being childish, or being irresponsible. It’s being lighthearted and not taking life so serious. When we are being like the children, we’re open to life and we flow with it. We’re not over-thinking, we’re letting things flow in a natural rhythm that let’s the God nature within us express itself to the world. God can work with us then. It’s really easy when we get the hang of it. I’ll catch myself when I get off track, and I often do. It’s a practice worthy of giving my focus. It’s more fun doing it this way than through the emergency situations I used to need to get my attention. It’s up to us to create “Heaven on earth”. We’re free to be the loving beings that we are; like little children.

If you’ve had moments when you felt God, or your Holy Spirit, please share with me. These stories help everyone, and I love hearing them. Thanks for reading!