There’s just something magical about being around little children. Without even trying to notice, you just can’t help but see their obvious innocence and optimism about life. That’s the wonder of childhood.
William Blake said this, “Know what it is to be a child… to see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower; hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.”
When our son, Seth, was young he loved building and exploring outside, and it was so entertaining to just sit back at watch his imagination and wonder of the world around him glow on his face. He would take the time to see amazing and wonderful things in life that I would have never noticed, whether it was a bug in the dirt, or a cool shape in the clouds. I’ve always loved seeing and sensing that wonder of childhood in our children’s words and actions at those young ages.
Losing the wonder…
However, I find myself guilty at times of losing this wonder about life. I can remember one time in particular that Seth was playing outside in the dirt in the backyard, and he excitedly asked me to come and check something out. My response was nothing short of half-hearted and uninterested. In my mind, I was too busy dealing with, you know, ‘big people’ stuff to bother with the hidden wonders of the dirt. At the time, it just seemed to be too trivial of a matter to bother with.
Ever been there?
When was the last time that you…
- Created imaginary animals out of the clouds with one of your kids?
- Counted the petals on a flower as you picked them off one by one?
- Found something simple in God’s creation that just amazed you?
Why is it that as we get older, we lose that sense of wonder and simplicity about the way life is or at least the way life should be? Somehow the natural wear and tear of life seems to erode our childish optimism and perspective. And we forget what it was like to be a kid.
“Children are born optimists and we slowly educate them out of their heresy.” – Louise Imogen Guiney
Stealing the wonder…
How sad, that many times, we as adults, are the ones who ‘rain on our children’s parades’ by trying to bring them into reality rather than allowing them to clear up the clouds for us and give us a fresh and untainted perspective. Because we’ve lost the wonder, we’re quick to steal the wonder from our children, at times without even realizing it. Once upon a time, our kids were just kids.
Sometimes our children so easily see the good in things, but we so quickly point out the bad.
Our kids try to see life for what it should be, and we’re right there to get them in line with the idea that “life’s just not fair” or “that’s just the way it is.”
Just because we aren’t able to remember such a world or willing to live in such a world doesn’t mean that we can’t do our best to protect the innocence of our children’s hearts and minds.
Protecting the wonder…
Life is tough, and sometimes we do have to help give our kids a reality check, but sometimes it’s also a beautiful thing to allow our children to experience the purity of childhood for as long as possible. They grow up so fast, and they’ll be thinking and acting like adults for the rest of their lives.
In fact, maybe we’d do well to learn from them to adjust some of our ways of thinking to theirs.
Gold City sang a song a number of years ago entitled “What Children Believe” which says:
Love lasts forever
Mom and Daddies stay together
The cheaters never win
And a promise is something you keep
It’s bad to lie, but it’s okay to cry
Dreams never die
And faith is all you need
Ain’t it crazy what children believe
Never lose the wonder of who God is, of what He is doing in the world around you, and how seeing it through the eyes of a child can change even the most calloused and oldest of us ‘big people’.
Make some time this week to refresh yourself, as well as your family, by reminding them that you’re never too old to enjoy the wonder of being a child.
