Child-like Trust

Simple little things in life remind me of my need to trust our Heavenly Father in all ways.

It started with a cherry. Or cherries.

Late at night I was sharing some cherries with my father, sort of like a midnight snack, and I came across a cherry with a bump. Unsure of whether it was good to eat or rotten, I put it back in the bowl. Kind of "rotten", pardon the pun, of me? For one it occurred to me to ask my father whether it was alright to eat it. It reminded me of how when you're a kid you always ask your parents whether food or fruits (or anything pretty much) is alright to eat. You're unsure, you don't know what a rotten fruit is, or if the hole in the apple is a puncture or a wormhole, or if the brown skin on the plum means that the plum has gone bad or if it is just dry skin. You rely on your parents to tell you that it is okay to go ahead and consume and enjoy the fruit.

Another thought that occurred to me as I placed the cherry back in the bowl was that when my father came across the cherry, he would know whether to eat it or not without me having to ask.

A short episode from a few days before came back to my mind. I was blow-drying my hair and facing the door when I noticed an odd insect I was unfamiliar with sitting on the door. I watched it warily like a hawk watching its prey. Trust me, I am deadly and deathly fearful of insects, especially ones I knew nothing about. The said insect sat pretty still for a few minutes, so I finally deemed it relatively safe. It was far enough from me and perhaps it would move away far enough from the door by the time I was done by my hair. However, when I did finish with my hair, the creature suddenly left its spot on the door and came flying right at me. I did what most girls (even some, like in my case, teenaged ones) in my place would. I screamed. Or shrieked. Call it what you will.

What happened next? Of course my parents called from the living room asking what was wrong. I tried to reassure them I was fine, the insect now having flown to a nearby wall, with me desperately swinging the hair-dryer in its direction. I yelled that there was simply some large weird insect on the wall. The next thing I knew, my Dad came running in with a plastic bag. I pointed to the insect, and he scooped it up with barely a word. And it was gone.

These two episodes are simple and to an extent ridiculous. But they reminded me of a similar not so subtle theme that can be summed up in these points:
1) Children trust their parents to know what they do not.
2) Children trust their parents to protect them from what they are afraid of.
3) Children trust their parents to tell them that it is alright to go ahead with what they are unsure of.

Children also trust their parents in a lot of other ways and things, but to keep this short, I shall not elaborate. (:

The simple message that I'm trying to bring across is the reminder that we all need to have child-like faith, and child-like trust in our heavenly Father. Like a child who runs to her father when she is unsure of whether it is alright to eat an apple with a hole indented in its skin, or like a small child who runs to his father when he is afraid of a fierce dog, we must run to God when we face uncertainties or things that frighten us in life. Even though we know this, we often turn to other things for support and to snuff out our fears, things that are temporary and fleeting.

Having child-like trust takes humility. It is almost like an admission of weakness, of inability to protect or be sure of yourself. But the truth is, humans are weak and vulnerable, but we are proud. It is harder that it sounds to take that courageous step to be humble. Yet it is not impossible and again, this is a saving grace.

And this saving grace is a gift we can take.

Lovely eating cherries.