Act Your Shoesize, Not Your Age

By Anthony Maranise, Obl.S.B.

I remember well, as a younger man, being told several times by my mother, “Act your age, not your shoesize!” This ‘tongue-in-cheek’ phrase was a more polite way of fundamentally being warned to, “grow up,” or “act more mature quickly lest there be consequences.” Personally, I’ve never been a fan of the phrase because I’ve always associated it with getting in trouble in my youth.

That said, as I have aged and come to reflect even more deeply on that old phrase, I’ve come to realize that our elders may not have really known the consequences of what they were encouraging.

I pose a sincere question: Why is it so bad to be childlike sometimes?

After all, the Lord Himself – Jesus Christ – wishes all of us, who are forever (and no matter our age) His children, to be childlike in our faith, our trust, our confidence in, and our reliance upon Him.

Children, properly raised, of course, do not have to worry (nor should they) as to where their next meal, hug, word of affirmation or encouragement, loving attention or care will come from. Parents tend to them with dedication, devotion, affection, and with such precision in love, it makes a hawk’s eyesight look impaired.

Obviously, I am not naïve enough to pretend that every child is blessed to have such a positive raising experience. I understand I am reflecting the ideal, indeed and stated without apology, the sort of childhood experience each and every child – without exception or condition – ought to have.

I think Jesus understood well the beauty and the spiritual depth and wisdom of ‘childlikeness’. In all three synoptic Gospels, Jesus has an interaction with the children of his native home, and, “never missing a teachable moment”, Jesus took the time to instruct His Apostles, disciples, and thus, each of us, about the value of ‘childlikeness’ and what we can and should well learn (and even imitate) from the children.

“Let the children come to me and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it”, says the Lord in St. Luke’s Gospel (18:15-17).

Parents often lament the swift-seeming rate at which their children age later in life. While, admittedly, I am not a parent, I have plenty of friends who are and I have been blessed to educate and, as I developed close friendships with these parent-friends of mine, have also developed friendships with their children.

In my experiences with these parent-friends of mine, I have several times heard them remark with the likes of the following: “They grow up to fast nowadays!”; “I wish they would stay little longer.”; even something like, “I miss the days when (s)he’d come to me for that stuff.”

Yet, how quick have so many been to ‘fire off’ that cautionary exclamation: “Act your age, not your shoesize!”

A popular country musician, Trace Adkins, released a hit song in 2008 titled, “You’re Gonna Miss This.” In the touching song, the refraining lyrics resound: “You're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back / You're gonna wish these days, hadn't gone by so fast / These are some good times, so take a good look around / You may not know it now, but you're gonna miss this.”

I have viscerally sensed that longing, that “missing” in my parent-friends’ hearts and souls for the youth, simplicity, and ‘childlikeness’ of their growing children.

You see, sisters and brothers, the Lord Jesus lauded and praised the children as examples of those who will come to “inherit the Kingdom of God” because children trust, as they ought, so reliantly and fully upon their parents, that they lack the ‘jadedness’, the ‘overly-analytical’ skepticism of this world.

Children, quite simply, often have better faith than we do, in their own parents, than we do in God, who is far Supreme to our earthly parents in His nature and abilities to love us perfectly and care for us.

Therefore, Jesus encourages us to try to embrace the ‘childlikeness’ of the children in our faith, trust, hope, and love of Him. Properly raised and protected, children have a clear-mindedness, a clean-heart, and an innocence that links them directly with the unconditional love and favor of God.

As difficult as it may be for us at times, we might do well to at least better attempt to heed the Lord’s words regarding the children: “Whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”

The Lord longs for us to come to Him; to run unto His arms like the very children of His that we are for every little thing. He does not grow tired of tending to every facet of our lives that we choose to make known to Him, for He is Our Father, and His Holy Mother, Mary, Our Lady, is Our Mother.

Through, with, and in faith, let us run unto their arms in faith today and always!

Indeed, perhaps it is so, after all, that – at least spiritually – we ought to act more our shoesize, and not our chronological age.

Blessed be God Forever.