Your soul has no wrinkles. The body ages, worries accumulate, but the soul remains forever young, because it is breath from the breath of God. Only the heart sometimes forgets that it is a child. Christ calls us back home:
“Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). He does not ask us to be great. He asks us to become small again. To be once more what we are: children of God, created in His image and called to likeness with Him. But it is not about naivety. The Holy Apostle Paul clarifies for us:
“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Corinthians 14:20). The innocence to which God calls us does not mean lack of mind, but lack of malice. It is a heart that does not remember evil, does not suspect, does not judge, and a mind that is awake, illuminated by grace. Saint Isaac the Syrian teaches us how to stand before Him:
“When you stand in prayer before God, make yourself in your mind like an ant and like a babbling infant. Do not say anything from knowledge before Him, but approach Him with the mind of a child.” The infant does not know beautiful words. He only knows how to stretch out his hands, and that is enough. In every trial, fall, or fear, we do not need to be strong. It is enough to be humble and to cry out like a child: “Abba, Father, help me!” and “Most Holy Mother of God, do not abandon me!” This is how the saints also reached innocence. Saint Seraphim of Sarov greeted everyone with “Christ is risen! My joy!” Saint Paisios of the Holy Mountain played with children and rejoiced in the smallest creatures. Saint Porphyrios wept with emotion while listening to a nightingale. Drawing near to God, they did not become more complicated. They became simpler, gentler, smaller. Perhaps today you have no words. You don’t need them. Babble to your Father. He understands you. The world has taught you to be strong. Christ calls you to be small. Lord, make us children again.