Seeing Beauty In The World Like A Child

Picture From Flickr

        On her post, 'People Who Wonder' J. Grace Pennington says, "To a five-year-old, everything is magic. There’s so much that’s unexplained and unexplainable, there’s so much to discover, and learn, and everything is so new. "

Ah, yes. Exactly.

     Children think so many things are beautiful, just for the fact that they see beauty in them. They look at the things that most 'grown ups' would say don't have much value, or are a bother, and they enjoy them. They make odd crafts and pick fist fulls of weeds and expect everyone to hold them up with as much delight as they do. To a child, the monetary value of a thing isn't important. They value things for what they see in them, not for what everyone says.

An odd shaped rock picked up on a walk is something to be treasured, not left where it is.

The (often scraggly) feathers found lying on the ground should be tucked into the hair, or used to make a craft, not thrown away as "germy".

Every yellow dandelion should be picked and put in a vase, and every missed flower that turns into a puffball should be blown and wished upon, or gathered to throw about the yard as 'snow', - never uprooted and killed.

Oil rainbows in the parking lot should be admired, not hurried away from.

Mud is something to make "food" out of, or round balls, or to mark one's face as an Indian, not to be avoided at all costs.

   Eventually though, children grow older, and most of them lose that wonder and curiosity. It's sad, really, that that is a part of us we often lose... Those examples above were me, once upon a time. I can still remember the times I saw almost everything as beautiful, fun and exciting... when I collected rocks from the yard, picked dandelions and goldenrod to put in vases, and planted any stray plants into containers to care for. (I don't think I'll ever forget when I was about six and I asked a neighbor if he knew what kind of plants I had and he told me they were just weeds...) Yes, by most standards those things weren't as valuable as I thought, but I took joy in them.

Matthew 18:2-4

² He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

     Oh, to see the world with childlike faith and wonder. I'm not talking about being naive. I'm talking about appreciating that what God has made is beautiful, and trusting that because my heavenly Father says something, it must be true... to not worry so much about the future: to think of it, plan for it, but never worry because 'the One in the front seat of the car is doing the driving'... I want to live in delight of the world around me that God has created, and never stop marveling at simple things.

  As Mirriam Neal says so well, "I don’t want to outgrow beauty or fun or the fantastic, I don’t want to stop liking things so much that I can’t help but talk about them even if the other party thinks it’s silly. I don’t think our God is an uncreative, unimaginative, un-fun-loving God – why should I try to be something He isn’t? "

   I want to be someone to enjoys the little things in life... who takes the time to marvel at the rain, or the sunrise, just as if it's the first time I've seen them. I pray I never grow up so much that I don't take joy in the beauty of the world around me.

~Ophelia - Marie

 Indescribable - Chris Tomlin