Becoming Like a Child: The Somatic Wisdom of Scripture

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3

There are moments when Scripture lands not just in the mind, but deep in the body, when it becomes an aha, not because we grasp it intellectually, but because something ancient within us remembers.

This verse unless you become like little children, recently moved me in that exact way. Not as a call to naivety, but an invitation to return to something deeply somatic, something sacred and true that we knew before we were taught to forget.

Before beliefs, before structure, before the world layered over us its conditions, expectations, and fears we were born into this world with breath. The very breath God gave humanity. In that first inhale, there was no striving or confusion. We were simply being, unguarded and whole, made in His image.

That is “unconditional unconscious awareness” a presence so complete it doesn’t need to prove anything. It just is.

To be like a child, then, is not to be immature. It is to live with open eyes and soft hearts. It is to trust the body’s wisdom.

“To remain curious, to receive life as it unfolds. To return to the place where truth lives not in thought, but in breath, in sensation, in stillness.”

Yet Scripture doesn’t stop there. We are called to grow, to mature in wisdom.

But I wonder if we’ve misunderstood what that really means.

In our Western thinking, we often equate maturity with intellect. With knowing more, understanding more, mastering more.

But Scripture speaks of a different kind of maturity. The Greek root φρόνησις (phronesis) offers us a glimpse: it means practical wisdom.

Not theoretical knowledge, but wisdom that is embodied, lived, practiced.

Phronesis is not just knowing it is discerning.

It is insight born from experience.

It is sound judgment rooted in moral clarity.

It is wisdom made visible in how we respond to life — in our actions, attitudes, and relationships.

Here’s where the aha truly deepened for me:

“Phronesis is deeply connected to conscious awareness of the body our somatic experience.”

When we are grounded in our bodies, we are grounded in now. From this place, wisdom doesn’t just come from books or sermons, it rises from within.

This is how we discern with awareness

The body as a source of truth
Our bodies hold more than posture and movement, they hold memory, emotion, truth. Tension, tightness, warmth, expansion, all clues that help us notice what feels aligned, what feels off. The body is often the first to know when something’s not right before our minds catch up.

Discernment beyond the intellect
When we slow down and tune in, we create space between stimulus and response. Somatic awareness helps us catch limiting beliefs, trauma responses, and fears before they run the show. Wisdom, then, becomes something lived not just learned.

Integration of head, heart, and body
Practical wisdom is whole-self wisdom. When the body feels safe and centered, the heart can feel, and the mind can reflect. In this integrated state, we are more able to respond rather than react.

Navigating complexity with presence
Life is rarely simple. But when we are present in our bodies, we don’t get swept up. We pause. We notice. We feel. And then, we choose not from fear, but from clarity. This, to me, is the outworking of godly wisdom.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

This isn’t about abandoning understanding, it’s about not relying solely on it.

“It’s about trusting that wisdom is not just out there, but also within the body God gave you.”

So maybe, to become like a child is to return to the place where we are most ourselves, present, embodied, trusting.

And to grow in wisdom is not to move away from that, but to learn how to stay rooted in it even in a world that tells us otherwise.

This is the invitation
Breathe. Listen. Be still.
Receive the kingdom like a child.
And walk in wisdom like one who knows deeply, truly, somatically who they belong to.