Friday Minute: Becoming as a child is the door to heaven

Consider this counsel from Elder Neal A. Maxwell: "We listen in vain but with eager ears for children’s voices we once thought too shrill, too constant — even irritating. Yet that cacophony of children, which we once called noise, was actually sweet sound, a sound we yearn to hear again if we but could" (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, "The Precious Promise," Liahona, April 2004).

Conclusion

Childlike virtues are not childish. For Christians, becoming "as a child" is the door to heaven.

Humility is not weakness, submissiveness is not surrender — at least not in the worldly sense. May we recognize that becoming childlike is the first teetering step in learning to walk the disciple’s road.

William Monahan graduated from BYU law school. An Air Force veteran and former Phoenix stake president, he teaches law and serves as a high councilor for the Queen Creek Chandler Heights Stake. He will begin service July 2012 as a mission president.