You Are a Child of God, Not Your “Inner Child”, by Anna Reynolds

By Anna Reynolds, Crisis Magazine, Sept. 26, 2024

Anna Kaladish Reynolds attended the University of Dallas and received an MA in Theology from Ave Maria University. She is a wife and mother, who lives in the great state of Texas, and she writes at InspireVirtue.com.

God calls us to be childlike, not childish. Overindulging and coddling ourselves does not lead us or the people around us to greater holiness, and being a child of God has nothing to do with the fiction of our “inner child.”

Our current age is described by some as a time of “higher consciousness.” This is a dubious descriptor when you consider how narrow-minded, intolerant, and incurious are the thought leaders of our day. While there are undeniably drawbacks to the way our culture views man, the moral law, and the existence of reality, Catholics can still gain insights from the prevailing thoughts and aspirations of our time.

Such a project, however, is fraught with peril. Discerning truth in the sly half-truths of a godless age is not for those easily swayed. Take, for example, the current cultural tendency to speak about and get in touch with your “inner child.” At first blush, this can seem good and even holy. Did not Jesus exhort us: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3)? …

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