The Gospel to Mark tells his disciples that he will “Whoever welcomes a child such as this for my sake welcomes me.” Jesus places a little child in front of him. In Jewish thinking, children were insignificant of little importance. To make his point he uses the child to illustrate to the Apostles what is really important. Now there can be a lot of things said about children, but the one characteristic that stands out is that children do not have the conscious lust or desire for control and power.
It seems pretty clear God is telling us is that if we choose to follow Him closely, we must abandon our need or obsession to control our life to the last iota. And our perception of control must be transformed and our sense of power resides in service to others. Christianity is a great paradox, when we willing giving up power and control is when we find ourselves most whole and most alive.
St. John of the Cross so beautifully states this when he writes, “what does it profit you to give God one thing if God is asking you for something else? Some souls believe they do not serve God when they are not allowed to do what they want. They think that satisfying themselves is serving and satisfying God. They measure God by themselves and not themselves by God.”