“… and Father God, thanks for everything. Amen!” Pepe said a quick prayer before starting his day off from school. He had so many things in mind he wanted to do that day.

As he stood up to leave, Pepe felt a loving presence in the room and heard the voice of God begging, “Stay with me a little longer, please?”

That afternoon Bernice saw Pepe sitting on the stairs in front of his house, thinking very hard about something. She was really puzzled since Pepe was usually full of energy and adventurous ideas on weekends. She sat down beside him and asked, “Hey, are you okay?”

“Oh, hi Bernice,” Pepe was caught by surprise. “Yes, I’m actually doing extremely well,” his voice was full of joy and vitality. 

“Great!” she said. “But…I don’t know…you’re not the same as usual.”

“I’m different? That’s good!” Pepe smiled.

“What’s going on?” Bernice was curious.

“God asked me today to spend more time with Him. He missed me!” Pepe’s face was glowing.

“Wow!” Bernice was in awe. “Tell me more!”

“My heart was melted when I heard Him ask me to stay,” Pepe confessed. “You know, God really wants us to meet with Him more often and He really wants to reveal His heart to us…more than we can even imagine!”

“I see…” Bernice was now the pensive one. “So, you stayed longer with Him today?”

“Of course!” Pepe exclaimed.  “Do you know what else is incredible?”

“What?” Bernice got his complete attention.

“Time flew fast this morning with Him, even though I spent more time than usual…it was so cool!” Pepe was very emotional because, more than anything else, he felt a strong desire to get to know God’s heart.

“I want to know God’s heart too!” Bernice said. “But how do I do that?”

“Well, based on my experience with Him today, you have to first find a place where you’ll be alone with Him. Like your room or something like that,” Pepe told her.

“Jesus always went to pray to the Father alone when He was here on earth,” Bernice pointed out. “He always looked for a private place to be with God the Father…I read about that in the Gospels.” Then she asked, “So, how about praying under my backyard’s big tree?” 

“Sure! As long as that’s a place for you to be alone with Him,” Pepe said matter-of-fact.

“What do I do then? I wouldn’t know where to start!” Bernice became nervous.

“Ha-ha, don’t worry!” Pepe laughed. “The Holy Spirit will guide you and help you, just ask Him. Here are some things you can do, for example: talk to Papa God about what’s in your heart, read the Bible and think about what you just read, worship by listening to music that praises Him, sing to Him, dance with Him, or you can just be still and wait for Him to tell you or show you something. By the way, listening to God is very hard for me because my mind is always busy with stuff that I want to tell Him, or do for Him, or something else.”

“Yeah…it’s always hard to listen,” Bernice said in agreement.

“Amazing how we can have access to the Father through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit! Right?” Pepe exclaimed.

“Yes!” Bernice clapped. 

Both kids were quiet for a while, their minds thinking about all they’d been talking about. After a while, Pepe said, “Do you know what else is interesting?” 

“What?” Bernice turned to face him.

“I found out that the more time we spend with God and get closer to Him, the more we’ll change for the better! Then, things will change around us too! Do you see? We’ll sort of become a person that brings good change!” A big smile appeared on Pepe’s face.

“Yes!” Bernice agreed. “I think that the most important thing for God is that we pay attention to Him, I read about that somewhere in the Bible too. Spending time with God, getting to know Him, obeying Him…all that is more important than doing things for Him. Think about it, what’s the point of doing things for Him if we don’t have Him in our hearts, or if we don’t know His heart, or if we don’t submit to Him?”

“Oh, Bernice…that’s a good one!” Pepe was in awe. “I think the Holy Spirit just spoke through you!”

“Ha-ha, I think you’re right!” Bernice was surprised too. “God really loves us, and misses us, and wants to show Himself to us! Isn’t He adorable? Isn’t He so tender?” She sighed.

Both children were pleasantly smiling when suddenly they heard Jesus’ voice, “The more you spend time with us, the more you will know what you were made to do in life. Everything you’ll do will work out well because we’ll be very close to you guiding your steps; and you’ll be very close to us Musketeers, listening to our wisdom!”

As the kids pondered about Jesus’ words, a beautiful and delicate aroma of flowers surrounded them. They immediately knew it was the scent of Jesus that announced His physical presence to them, even though they couldn’t see Him.

The kids sat there and breathed the pleasant and peaceful aroma of flowers, and a joy beyond their comprehension filled their hearts.

Related Bible reading:
Mark 1: 35
Matthew 6: 6-8
Psalm 1: 1-3