Psalm 131:1-2 — Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.

I am today, by the Grace of God, sixty years old. I hope you will not mind, therefore, if I indulge in talking about myself a little.
There were long stretches of my life, especially in some aimless years in my thirties and forties, when I doubted if I would see fifty. Here I am now, turning sixty and — despite the ups and downs of life — looking forward to a great future. What happened?
I met my beloved Myra, of course. And then God tapped my shoulder, and nothing has ever been the same.
Today, in our devotions, we read this sweetest of psalms. It says something about how I feel about a lot of things now. I used to have a reputation for being like a missile … wind me up, point me at an issue, and watch me explode. I’m a lot calmer now. (Not saying that frustration doesn’t still strike now and then — I’m not perfect!)
Thinking about this scripture led me to two other “child” scriptures. The first was 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Of course Paul is talking about the way that one day we will lay aside the things of this world for heavenly concerns, but at the same time he comments on the way that “we lay aside, as unworthy of our attention, the views, feelings, and plans which we had in boyhood, and which we then esteemed to be of so great importance.” (Albert Barnes). That works for me. Looking back I can see how my view of what is important in life has changed, and how alien to me are the aspirations of my younger self.
The second scripture was Mark 10:15, “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” Here is a scripture from which I draw two lessons today. First; to enter the Kingdom one must be born again — and plainly the one who is newly born is as a child. Second; the newborn child is, in the words, again, of Albert Barnes, “teachable, mild, humble, and free from prejudice and obstinacy.” I am born again, and I hope some of those childlike characteristics are emerging in me!
At first sight, these two scriptures say opposite things. One says be mature. The other says be childlike. But they come together for me in Psalm 131. Maturity is about stripping away the nonsense of the world — the kind of things I wanted to chase after in my earlier years — and accepting that my knowledge and significance is not so great, and that a childlike faith and a willingness not to pretend to involvement in “great matters” is just fine with God. I hope you are in a calm safe harbor too. If not, perhaps these few verses will help you calm the waters.