Forgiveness at 5

I have the absolute honor to be a Director of Children’s Ministry for my church. The moments I get to spend talking to kids are few due to the nature of what it is I actually do on Sunday mornings. However, when I get the opportunity to pastor a family through a situation or hug a child on their way to children’s church, I melt with gratitude. I have an amazing job! I’ve become quite attached to these kids. I never thought children’s ministry was something God would call me in to but I’m not only thankful for my job, I’m learning from these kids!

Today, I spoke with a 5 year old who I’ve been counseling through some recently tough issues. This little girl came to church with one motive and that was the talk to Miss Ashlie about forgiveness. I looked her parents in the eye and said, “Goodness, what a topic to lead your child through.” She was struggling to forgive someone because, “they never said they were sorry.”

Wow.

Easy topic to talk about with a child, right? I looked at her and said, “You are learning a big girl lesson! There are mommies and daddies who have trouble forgiving someone who doesn’t say I’m sorry. But you know what, Jesus forgives us even when we forget to say we’re sorry. We do lots of things that hurt His feelings and sometimes we don’t even know it and he still forgives us. So if we forgive that person even though he didn’t say sorry, we become more like Jesus! And we can love Jesus even more when we DO say we’re sorry.” Her next words were, “I WANT TO BE LIKE JESUS!” I had never heard such enthusiasm of that nature come from such a small child… And I wanted that type of enthusiasm; that type of faith. With a huge smile on her face she said, “so if I forgive this person then I get to be more like Jesus?!”

I sat there for a moment and replayed in my head, what I had just said. A simple truth; forgiving someone who doesn’t say I’m sorry makes me more like Jesus. How is it that a child understands this without blinking an eye? But for me, it takes years of bitterness, resentment, counseling, analyzing or crying for me to get to a place where I can even accept what it means to forgive someone.

Today I was humbled. I was inspired. This little girl truly released the burden of forgiveness and what was even more amazing… it showed on her countenance. She laughed more, smiled more, played more all because she wanted to be more like Jesus.

Forgiveness is powerful. It’s freeing.

Today, a 5 year old taught me more about forgiveness than any pastor, teacher, mentor or writer ever has. I want to accept truth the way a child does. No questions asked; taking the Word for what it is…truth. I want to be more like Jesus.