One day while taking care of my niece, she said, “Auntie Christy, can I show you how I pray?”

“Of course, Emma! How do you pray?”

“Open them, close them.

Open them, close them.

Give a little clap!

Open them, close them.

Open them, close them.

Fold them in your lap.

Repeat after me...Dear Jesus, thank you for my auntie Christy. Thank you for the true Bible stories. We love you. Amen!”

It was the first time I had ever heard my two-year-old niece pray. She had learned this poem and prayer from our church’s children's ministry, where I happened to work at the time. Not only was this encouraging to see that what we teach on the weekends actually makes an impact, but I realized the work God does through our ministry had reached my home...my family.

I have worked with children since I was nine years old. At first, it was because I thought it would be fun, but now it is so much more than that. Living life with children has taught me so much about perspective. Perspective on love, perspective on life and perspective on faith.

Children are humble, dependent and open minded—so in awe of the stories they hear of this man called Jesus.

It makes me wonder if we were all like this once. Young, wild and free. When did I lose this innocent perspective on faith? As we grow, we grow in pride, independence and our hearts close. Why? How do we go back to the heart of a child?

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,” (Matthew 19:14).

The kingdom belongs to who? The hearts of those who return to eyes of wonder for our Savior.

I need to do this. I am blessed to spend every weekend with children whose faith is often stronger than my own. They believe. They believe that God created them beautifully. They believe that God loves them.

They are like Nathaniel. All Jesus had to do in order to win over the faith of Nathaniel was say, Hey dude! I know you ‘cause I saw you standing in front of the fig tree! Then Nathaniel is like, You must be the Messiah then!

I picture Jesus laughing as He says to Nathanael, “You believe because I said I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that,” (John 1:50). Jesus is like, That’s all it took to make you believe!? Then just wait until you see all of the other stuff I can do…

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Nathanael was the first of all Jesus’ followers to call Him Messiah. Nathanael saw God. He saw who Jesus truly was because he had in him a pure heart—the heart of a child.

I want this faith.

My favorite time of year is Easter. It is quite often the first time children are hearing the resurrection story. Seeing the complete awe and undoubting belief in the kids’ faces as they listen, reminds me that it is the truest depiction of the grace and love of Christ. I remember one year, when a little five-year-old who was timid about entering the room, was clinging to me the entire service. As the story was told, the lights flickered and a pretend earthquake boomed across the room in a re-telling of Christ coming back to life. In excitement, her tiny fingers let go of my hand. She got up on her feet to watch as “Magdalene” shouted, “Jesus is alive! Jesus is alive!”

This little five-year-old, who may have been hearing about Jesus for the first time, turned to me with tears in her eyes and whispered, “Teacher, Jesus is alive!” We then had a time where kids could share on a microphone what they wanted to say to Jesus. She bravely walked up to the stage and yelled into the mic, “Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me!”

What would happen if we decided to live out our faith in this way? I believe it would feel a lot like launching yourself off a cliff with full trust that God will catch you. I want to believe in Jesus in the way Nathanael did. I want to be bold like this little girl and yell to the world, “Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me!”

Later in my conversation with my niece, I asked her, “Emma, do you know that God made you?”

“Yup! He made my eyes, my ears and my nose!”

“And how did He make you?”

“He made me beautiful!”