Don`t Grow Up: The Unexpected Key To Mental Health
Mental health has taken center stage in the global conversation about wellness—and for good reason. A staggering 94% of people now believe that caring for their mental health is essential for overall well-being, a dramatic increase of 46% since 2022.
It’s estimated that nearly half the world’s population will experience a mental health disorder at some point in their lives. Anxiety and depression top the list, affecting 284 million and 264 million people, respectively.
Thankfully, there’s no shortage of helpful resources—therapies, medications, articles, and strategies—all offering valuable support. We’re wise to take their advice and follow the treatment plans given by trusted medical professionals.
But there’s one surprisingly powerful practice for mental wellness that rarely gets mentioned. It’s ancient, countercultural, and incredibly freeing.
Don’t grow up.
Yes, you read that right.
Let me ask you a question: How many young children, deeply loved and well cared for by their parents, suffer from chronic anxiety or depression?
Not many.
Of course, there are exceptions. But generally, when a child is well nurtured and secure, they don’t carry the weight of worry. Why? Because their parents are shouldering the big stuff. Bills, decisions, futures—all managed on their behalf.
Now, you might be thinking, That’s nice, but I’m an adult. I am the parent. I have responsibilities. True. But here’s where the gospel meets us with a surprising invitation:
Even as adults, we’re called to live like children.
The Gift of Eternal Childhood
We were never meant to outgrow our need for a parent. Somewhere in adolescence or young adulthood, we absorbed the idea—whether from school, family, or culture—that adulthood means independence. Figure it out. Carry the load. Take care of yourself and others.
That narrative might prepare us for certain responsibilities, but it’s only part of the truth.
The full truth? Your early years of depending on your earthly parents were only a warm-up. They were training you for a deeper, lifelong dependence on your Heavenly Father.
And when you live in that reality—when you embrace God as your eternal Father—you step into what can only be described as eternal childhood. But this way of being doesn’t come automatically. It has to be practiced, nurtured, and learned. Psalm 131 gives us a glimpse into this posture of the heart.
Psalm 131:1–2 — A Picture of the Eternal Child
Lord, my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I don’t concern myself with matters too great
or too awesome for me to grasp.
Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself,
like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk.
Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
1. A Humble Mind
“My heart is not proud…”
Humility is the first key posture of the eternal child. It admits, I don’t know everything. I have limits. Some things are beyond me—and that’s okay.
But our culture resists this. We want answers. We think if we just research enough, analyze hard enough, or ask ChatGPT (guilty!), we can solve anything.
Yet this very striving often opens the door to anxiety and depression—because we bump into our limitations and don’t know what to do with them.
Children don’t stress about tax season. And there are many burdens the Father simply never intended us to carry. So what are these “matters too great” for us?
They’re often the very things we obsessively worry about:
- The future—ours or someone else’s.
- The choices of others we try to control.
- Timelines we can’t make sense of: “Why hasn’t this happened yet?”
- Painful questions about suffering: “Why is God allowing this?”
- Global crises that weigh heavy on our hearts but are far beyond our grasp.
When we engage these weighty matters apart from God, they become too great for us and wear down our souls. But when we bring them to the Father as children—not to carry them, but to trust Him with them—we find peace.
2. A Quieted Soul
“Like a weaned child is my soul within me…”
The second posture is one of trust and contentment. The image here isn’t of a hungry infant screaming for milk, but of a weaned child—still resting in the presence of the mother, not driven by need, but satisfied simply by being near.
We’re invited to that kind of rest with our Heavenly Father. A place where we aren’t dominated by unmet desires (even good ones like marriage, career, or success), but anchored in His presence and will.
Whether we have little or much, whether our plans work out or fall apart—we’re okay. Not because our circumstances are perfect, but because we trust the One who holds them.
Jesus: The Perfect Eternal Child
Jesus models this way of being perfectly.
He wasn’t consumed with solving every great matter—only with doing His Father’s will. He focused on “the one thing.” He trusted, He rested—even sleeping during storms. And ultimately, He surrendered completely on the cross: “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.”
Through Jesus, we don’t just receive a model—we receive access. He opens the door to eternal childhood with God the Father, a gift that grounds us in peace and lifts the weight of adult-sized burdens we were never meant to carry alone.
So, have you started living as an eternal child?
If not, the Holy Spirit stands ready to help. You don’t have to fake it or figure it all out. Just ask Him.
There’s rest on the other side of surrender—and joy in being a child again.
