The child in the temple immediately conjures up a lovely picture. While I was growing up, I loved the story of the boy Samuel—the child in the temple—and I still do (see I Samuel 3:1–10).
I loved the way he looked after and cared for the old priest, Eli. I loved the fact that it was Samuel and not the elder Eli to whom God spoke. I loved the way that God persisted with Samuel and called him three times, and the way that Samuel eventually replied, “Speak; for thy servant heareth.” I loved the child’s receptivity and readiness to listen and obey.
It was Samuel’s spiritual discernment, his childlike receptivity, that enabled him to do this. He went on to be a great Old Testament prophet, and his spiritual discernment never left him. He was instructed by God to anoint and appoint the future King David. He was intuitively led to go to Jesse the Beth-lehemite and ask to see Jesse’s sons (see I Samuel 16:1–13). Jesse paraded all but one of his sons before Samuel, but Samuel was looking on the heart and not the outward appearance. And so he asked if there were any more sons he had not seen, and of course there was—David, the youngest, who was out in the fields tending sheep.
The Scriptures give a wonderful description of David: “Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he” (I Samuel 16:12). I often use this verse in praying for myself; in a sense to anoint and appoint myself—to rightly identify myself in God’s name as His beloved child. Like Samuel, each one of us can be spiritually discriminating, looking not on the outward appearance, but asking what God is seeing—for this alone gives the truth of our spiritual nature and stature.
Christian Science reveals that God’s man is always at the point of spiritual maturity; that he doesn’t have to “grow” toward completeness. Infinite Mind doesn’t see us as babies or old people; this Mind doesn’t know grandparents, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts—or for that matter the wider human family. It knows each one of us only as His child.
Christian Science reveals that God’s man is always at
the point of spiritual maturity; that he doesn’t have to “grow” toward completeness.
To the child in you there is only receptivity—no resistance. It is this childlike openness to truth that the Christ is speaking to, and it is this child in you that is listening. It is the child in you that doesn’t waver, doubt, or argue. This acceptance that all is infinite Mind and that nothing, absolutely nothing, can exist or operate outside of the divine consciousness, enables us to glimpse spiritual reality and put on more of the Mind of Christ. It is the child of God who is meek, who submits to the will of the Father, and it is the child of God who is mighty through Love as the image of Love.
One summer when my son was about four, we visited a local swimming pool, and I was in the shallow end holding his baby sister in my arms. My son was playing close by, and since he hadn’t learned to swim yet, he was wearing arm bands that kept him afloat. Suddenly he saw his friend (who, unlike my son, was a swimmer) enter at the deep end of the pool. On seeing him, my son climbed out of the water, ran down to the deep end of the pool, ripped off his arm bands, jumped in, and disappeared under the water. I was unable to reach him and shouted for someone to help, but wasn’t able to be heard in the noisy pool. I have to admit it—I panicked.
A moment later, much to my amazement, I saw the top of his head appear, as he moved along in the water, continuing to swim with his face down and his little form submerged in the water. He kept moving slowly from the deep end of the pool to the shallow end, but under the water for the entire length. I rushed the best I could over to the steps, with my baby daughter still in my arms. Relieved but exasperated, I said, “Robin! Whatever did you think you were doing?” “Don’t worry, Mummy,” he said calmly. “God was holding me up.” Oh for the simplicity of childlike faith—a lack of fear and sweet confidence in God’s ever-present help.
The child in us is the innate spiritual goodness and purity of our real identity, which enables us to respond to any demand made upon us, because the intelligence, inspiration, and understanding that we need come from God. As we rise to recognize our true spiritual stature, we are able to demonstrate more of our infinite perfection, and we become increasingly receptive to the absolute acknowledgment of it.
