Developing Childlike ‘Be-Attitude’s by Living the ‘Beatitudes’
From the Sermon on the Mount—The Beatitudes
We are admonished in the scriptures to become as ‘little children’; and to ‘be’ means we need to live in the moment as children do.
For those of us who haven’t read the Gospel’s Beatitudes from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew chapter 5:3-12, take heart and read them again. They are without doubt the basis for living the principles of the Gospel.
They are there to help us to learn to ‘BE’, and to teach us to ‘become as little children’! Children exemplify the lessons that Christ taught.
In Purity of Spirit and Innocence, they give us a new take and interpretation on these ‘Be—Attitudes’. They bring us up short in wonder with the simplistic viewpoints and things they say. We can’t help but take another look ourselves as well as the moment or situation at hand, even with if it’s with a smile or huge dose of humor!
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’
It is now autumn, the children are back to school, and it will soon be time for the annual Primary Children’s Sacrament Meeting program. All year they’ve learned new songs expressing the Primary theme for the year. Many children have speaking parts—some short, some longer. Everyone participates.
During my years as Primary chorister, I LABORED, teaching children the music for many programs. Every time, we leaders, sweated and prayed the program would go smoothly. It usually did.
Occasionally, there were slight mishaps; kids tripping up the stairs, forgetting words, tears of fear; and the occasional child who had to run mid-song to the bathroom, or leaned over the railing at the front of the chapel and performed an unexpected somersault. All in all, they were eager to show what they had learned during the year. They wanted to do a good job!
They were ‘poor in spirit’, with no guile, just pure faith, humility and trust. Children are open to learning and doing good!
In every ward, we watch as children perform, and we see ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’ in their countenances. They are pure in their efforts. Never mind the one who sings loudly off-key, or little girls with the giggles, or as never fails—the one who must wave at parents and grandparents to make sure he’s seen!
Blessed are they, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They’re little angels whose learning and efforts are not prideful nor boastful; but simply pure with love for Jesus.
‘Blessed are they that that mourn: for they shall be comforted.’
When our young family lived in a small town, where summer residents vacationed; they each had pets they were responsible for. My middle son had a parakeet named Pierre, who had quite a repertoire, as we listened to music frequently in our home. He would sing even after we turned it off.
Having pets, for my son, was a trial; they’d all died, for no apparent reason, though he’d diligently cared for all.
One evening, he was cleaning the cage outside. As he slid the bottom out, and changed the paper liner, he accidentally knocked it over; and the bird took flight. He valiantly tried to catch it, as did his siblings, who raced to help. But at dusk, a tiny parakeet is quickly lost.
We cried and prayed and cried some more. Supper was an unhappy affair.
His father had him print a flyer: ‘One Parakeet Lost. If Found Please Call…’; and hang it on the post office bulletin board. How we missed that cheerful little singer! My son literally mourned.
Six weeks later, the phone rang. My husband listened, chuckled; then replied, “Yes, we do, a lot in fact.” He explained, as we eavesdropped, that his son had lost a parakeet and would love to have him back! My son was ecstatic!
A gentleman had returned to our small town for Thanksgiving, seen the flyer and realized the little bird was missed. He expressed how much pleasure our little bird had given to he and his wife; “That little bird knows how to sing! I’d swear he was singing real songs!” Pierre did know real songs; and continued to sing them in our home, for another couple years.
Children show sincere emotion, and loss is difficult. They understand true empathy, even for the smallest of God’s creatures. A prayer was answered, in the Lord’s time and way, with His blessing of comfort, for a small boy who mourned; as only a child can.
‘Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.’
There is no doubt that young children are meek, kind and giving. They are humble; without fault in an unspoiled way. They see everything with a fresh newness and pure pleasure; then they move on to the next thing just as quickly, trusting that it too, will be as good.
However, it may take years to appreciate the sense of delight we saw; as they experienced life!
As a young mother, I babysat two young boys, close in age to my own. Two, were three years old, and the two youngest eighteen months; all required constant supervision! One day, while reading to the older two, I noticed the two little ones had disappeared from the ‘toy corner’; it was too quiet!
Sure I’d find them ‘exploring’, I searched. Opening the master bedroom door, that I’d closed earlier, I peered in.
Too my horror, I saw two little bodies, black as can be—laughing and covered completely with the soil from an entire large strawberry pot. 40 pounds worth! I’d carefully filled it the day before in preparation to grow herbs near a large sunny window. The only clean parts of the two little urchins were the whites of their eyes and toothy grins as they gleefully smiled up at me; both holding out handfuls of rich loam to share.
Two vacuum bags later, a hose down in the tub, and a change of clothes; all four boys were down for naps. I realized then I should have taken a picture for later blackmail!
About a month ago, I reminisced about the incident with the father of the other boys; all of whom are now grown, with children of their own. When reading the next day, two scriptures caught my eye, and I had to laugh.
I read Proverbs 29:15; ‘The rod and reproof give wisdom; but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.’ And only two verses later, verse 17 continued; ‘Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea he shall give thee delight unto thy soul.’
The pure in heart need no correction, they are simply teachable. They will inherit the earth through delight and unspoiled pleasure! They teach us to readily forgive with gentleness.
‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.’
Children have an insatiable desire to learn. They ask why so often, we as adults are hard pressed to keep up with answers. Very little is boring; their curiosity knows no bounds.
Repetition isn’t discouraging like it can be for adults; children haven’t learned what it means to fail. They don’t recognize that misunderstanding a concept or giving an incorrect answer is failing. Children don’t feel like failures.
A sense of failure is learned.
Failure for a child simply means there is another chance to do whatever ‘It’ is, correctly. They want to please and to do good works; by succeeding; and getting to do ‘It’ over again’. Failure isn’t bad, though it’s perceived to be so by the world. Failure allows us to become perfected.
A six year old grand-daughter can’t get enough of learning to spell. She pushes herself to practice the alphabet and learn to spell words by writing stories, poems, letters and notes to everyone in her family. She’ll find the tiniest scrap of paper to write lists of words which catch her fancy and ask everyone around her how to spell them.
Deciding that she wants to become a doctor, she wants to know everything about everything. No bit of trivia is unimportant. Hearing words used that should be far beyond her ability to understand at her age; she uses them with astounding accuracy. She constantly amazes us with her ability to understand the meanings of the words and concepts they represent.
She seeks ways to have her hunger and thirst filled with righteous knowledge. There’s no failure for her; just a desire to learn, as does her two-year old cousin who demands to be read to, by whomever will read to him.
He’s memorized his favorite bedtime story. Read over and over, it’s still new every single time. He even does actions!
We adults should become child-like; letting go of any fear of failure that’s developed as we’ve grown. And, replace it with a hunger and thirst for knowledge that only the Lord can provide through the Holy Spirit; then perhaps, we too will be filled with a desire to learn even more!
‘Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.’
Children are purest in their efforts to be helpful, compassionate, kind and loving. Sometimes helpful attempts can bring us to laughter; or tears, when something goes completely wrong!
I’d been tending my eldest son’s children for a couple days, ending on Valentine’s Day, when their parents were to return.
We’d made cookies, played games, read stories, and popped popcorn for our movie. We’d had a wonderful time, but grandma was tired! We cleaned the house and packed their belongings. Grandma’s Home Teacher’s stopped by to give her a requested blessing, and as they arrived, I sent the kids outside to play in the yard; and NO they could not play in the back of my pick-up truck!
After the brethren left, I checked on the three, who were playing ball in the side yard. I washed a few dishes while observing from the kitchen window. Then, stepped into the living room to straighten up, only to hear a splintering crash within mere moments!
I ran out the front door to discover all three in the bed of my truck— a mixture of horror, fright, and guilt on their faces. The back window of my pickup was shattered and the three-year old was sitting beneath it, holding the end of a bungee cord. The older two pointed at him saying in unison, “He did it. He let it go!”
He just smiled and said, “We heping ‘Ahma!” The words from my blessing, only moments before, raced through my mind like a freight train. “Remember to be the good example to your grandchildren that you have always been.”
I gritted my teeth, took a deep breath and firmly, but quietly told them to; “Get out of the truck. Go in the house—Now. WE are going to talk about the difference between helpfulness and obedience.” Breathing deeply, I lifted the little boy out of the truck and prayed silently with gratitude that the bungee’s metal end had hit the window instead of his precious little face.
I noticed they’d done an excellent job of crisscrossing the truck bed with the lattice of cords; they’d used every single one!
During the time-out session, after our ‘talk’, their father came in asking with a sickly look on his face. “What happened to your truck window?”
I said with a smile born of many years experience, and knowing; “I’ll let your children explain”.
Children are truly merciful and they receive mercy—especially when they’re your grandchildren!
‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.’
Most children love to be outdoors, playing games and sports, running and jumping, riding bikes, and swimming. A walk in nature, going to the zoo, a park or farm, never fails to bring delightful viewpoints. Some are enthusiastic about their adventures, and experiences; and some are not. But, no matter how they respond, they show us from their perspective with every new experience, their surprise, delight, joy, and wonder at the innumerable gifts of God.
Each animal, flower, tree, bug, rock or seashell is a fantastic discovery. A time of learning and exposure to the wonders of creation.
When my brother was just beginning to toddle, my mom happened to take a snapshot of him sucking water from a hole in the hose. The delighted smile on his face and taste of the delicious cold water dribbling down his chin and shirtfront has always been a favorite, treasured family photo.
As I looked through my childhood photo album recently, I noticed several pictures of myself, my sister and my brother, as very young children, when we lived near a forest rimmed glacier lake. There are pictures of us playing in the sand, swimming near the shore—in the frigid lake with my father’s help, picking up driftwood and pine cones; and feeding the chipmunks near the campfire at the picnic grounds.
Being together as a family and sharing nature, is as close to a heavenly experience as I can imagine. It still felt the same when I took my own small children for walks to the park, and when we worked together on our farm as they grew older. They learned to take care of a garden, farm animals, and now share those things with their own children.
Each generation passes on the love and enjoyment of experiencing the Lord’s creations. The look on a child’s face when they stroke the fur of a tiny bunny, or feel the coarse tongue of a young calf, or get butted gently by a bouncing Kidd goat while feeding it, is priceless.
It’s the same expression of joy and rapture a parent sees on their child’s face when they splash in a fountain or wade in a cool creek.
The look is one of pure joy, straight from the heart—for they see God in everything. Blessed are they.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.’
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11
Children can be downright blunt with honesty. They see things for what they are—and tell you like it is, which is how they see it.
Even their prayers are simple and forthright; from the heart with complete faith. They’re thankful for everything. When learning to pray, they’re very literal, specific and often the list can go on and on. Their gratitude is often endless for every family member, friend, teacher, pet, food, toys, clothes, games, bed, shoes, books, bugs, and what they watched on TV.
We can learn by asking ourselves: Are we as grateful for the simple things in our lives, as we should be? Can we kneel by our bedside with openness, trust, and honestly tell our Father in Heaven of the little things we appreciated and noticed that day?
I’ve often kept a ‘Gratitude Journal’, and write three to five things at the end of each day for which I am grateful. My one rule is this: I cannot ever repeat a single thing; (Okay, I use variations occasionally, but not more than two or three times a month!) I’ve begun a new one several times over the years, and find that at the lowest points in my life, it brings me back to seeing a positive perspective instead of focusing on all that’s wrong, or lacking.
I can see things in a new way, moving beyond my trials. My outlook changes and I can once again find a measure of peace.
Children are truly Peacemakers and can be called ‘Children of God’. So as they speak—so as they pray. In following their example, we should think as a child when we pray. ‘Lord I kneel before thee this night, I am grateful for…”
‘Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’
Young children often act afflicted and persecuted when we tell them “No!” over and over again. They have wills and minds of their own, frequently trying our patience and endurance. We must give them credit though—they can be persistent!
Generally obedient to parents, sometimes their behavior is not within their control. Such was the case recently, as my daughter-in-law told me of a moment in exasperation and at her wits end, she tried to convince my grandson to stop what she’d repeatedly told him not to do. Being three years old, and on new medication, wasn’t helping the situation.
HE wanted to do what he wanted! She scowled, pointed her finger at him and firmly told him “NO! Stop it right now!”
He marched right up to her and mimicked her precisely! Right down to the expression on her face, pointed finger and all. “NO! Mom, You ‘top it wight now!”
She said it was all she could do to hold a straight face while she picked him up, and screaming the whole way, carried him to bed, to calm down. Every time she thought of it later, she’d laugh. “I just did’t know what to do with him!” She said.
I reassured her, that indeed, most of us have had at least one ‘child moment’ like this, and at these times, everyone feels the affliction! We must endure, be patient and firm. Children pass through difficult phases and peace is restored once again. His father had done the very same thing, at about the same age.
We survive the persecution of the terrible twos and threes! Righteousness will prevail and the kingdom of heaven—with peace, will be restored—after nap time!
‘Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.’
Each Fast and Testimony Meeting we hear children bear testimonies of the simple truths they know. They learn and love to share what they know and believe.
As a child, I learned about testimonies in Primary and Sunday School and remember vividly one Sunday, that I had decided to bear my testimony, because I would be baptized in a few short weeks, and I wanted to share what I knew was true.
An elderly and quite grumpy man in a rumpled suit followed us into the foyer and loudly announced, “I hope we don’t have to listen to any kid’s testimonies today. They don’t know any such thing! It’s a waste of time when they get up there and just chatter!” I remember feeling hurt and crushed.
I’d wanted to share how important my family was to me and and that I loved my Heavenly Father and Jesus. I didn’t understand why that ‘old man’ would say such mean things.
I lost courage that day, because of his words, and didn’t regain it until I was a teenager. I’ve never forgotten his caustic attitude and adamant belief that children couldn’t know or understand truth. They can and do. Children are actually very close to the Spirit, especially our youngest ones. They haven’t absorbed the things of the world, which tend to get in the way of feeling the Holy Spirit.
We read in 3 Nephi 17:11-25 of how Christ prayed for the Nephite children, wept for them and blessed them, and then the angels encircled them and ministered to them. And later, in chapter 26:14-16 we read of how, ‘even babes did open their mouths and utter marvelous things.’
We should pay attention to children, as they often speak Heaven’s words in the simplest of ways. They may just teach us a thing or two, instead of the other way around.
Children should never be reviled for their simple beliefs; for Christ loves all little children, and they love Him. Their purity and simplistic outlook blesses all of us—because it’s the ‘Pure love of Christ’ coming through them.
And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:2-3)