The spirit of childhood is a spirit of simplicity and joy that goes together with the greatest intelligence and the most advanced knowledge. Here more than anywhere else the law of contrasts holds: one must be great to be secure enough to be truly childlike -- just as one must be strong to be infinitely gentle, and wise in order to permit oneself to be foolish. Spiritual childhood is a matter of trust and self-surrender into God's hands.
Each of us, as we journey through life, has the
opportunity to find and to give his or her unique gift.
Whether that gift is great or small in the eyes of the
world does not matter at all—not at all; it is through the finding and the giving that we
may come to know the joy that lies at the center of both the dark times and the light.