The Eyes of a Child
Today was a beautiful spring day in my prayer garden. The lovely fresh air sent me drifting through memories of sunny childhood days gone by. Perhaps it was the light or the smell of mowed grass, or maybe the soft fanciful cloud shapes in the amazing blue sky that took me back.
Back to lying in the grass in the front yard of our Utah house pointing out funny cloud creatures to my friends. That memory shifted to riding horses on my friend Roxanne’s farm. Playing in the creek and going on hikes in the mountains with my dad. There was the year I trained ground squirrels to eat out of my hand when we lived in the canyon. Our whole family would lie on sleeping bags in our backyard on warm evenings and look at the constellations.
Each season had a special kind of magic. Wonder. Every summer we would travel to my grandmother’s house in Texas and spend a month of swimming, naps and reading library books. I would sit on the front porch swing and just daydream. Even trips to the Piggly Wiggly were delightful. Life was unhurried and relaxing, filled with love and oatmeal cookies. Life as a child.
Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
What does that mean? I think He is telling us to look at our world with the eyes of a child. When I was young, the world was mysterious and delightful, filled with amazing and beautiful things to be discovered. My grandmother had a drawer where she kept “pretties” for me to play with. They were random objects, ribbons, sparkly buttons, a ball and jacks, a pretty shell, corks, bottle tops. I loved them. They became the basis for my creative imagination. I turned them into dolls and little necklaces, tiny tables. I put the shells to my ear to hear the ocean. Magic.
But as we get older we have to become more intentional in finding that magic and wonder again. It’s hard to feel childlike and full of wonder when we read terrible headlines or have to figure out how we are going to deal with health issues or financial concerns. Back then if I scraped my knee, once the bandaid was on it, I was back out the door. Sixty years ago life for me was one amazing moment after another.
Today, since we can’t really know what the future holds, Jesus tells to be like a little child. Several years ago I took a picture of my granddaughter looking at ladybug in her hair. Something about the photo of her looking very carefully at the tiny bug in her golden blonde hair, reminded me that it is sometimes the littlest things in life that can be the most delightful. The most precious. These are the things that money can't buy. We are to savor each moment. Be amazed at the world around us. Let go of our worries and hurts. Look for the magic and beauty in the simplicity of our day. We are to let tomorrow take care of itself. And if we will do this, no matter what age we are - we will find Heaven, because we will be seeing with the eyes of a child.
