The Wonder of Young Life

(I wrote this last week some time...)

It is a wonder to open your eyes and behold the world of a child. Colors are brighter, movements are more pristine; sounds are new and exciting (the louder the better) and each new smell is either REALLY good or REALLY bad.

A red cardinal isn’t just red, it is BRIGHT RED and hiding in the tree.

A dove in flight is STRAIGHT while a tufted titmouse SWOOPS like a wave.

A Black Colobus Monkey from East Africa (off of our rain forest CD) sounds like HUGE belches – “But wait! If I belch, I can sound like a monkey!!”

“What’s that smell that I’m smelling?”: The scent of granola, fresh out of the oven and too hot to eat, can be inhaled deeply – and then a cry of “YUMMMM!!!” resonates off the walls making my ears cringe; “That soup smells stinky.” (Ummm, thanks, son.) “*sniff* *sniff* What did you eat?” (They always know when I sneak a treat.)

When I look back over the happenings of a single day I’m dismayed about how much I have missed simply because my mind is too filled with my ‘To Do’ list. I want to teach my children how to observe the things going on around them… but I find that when I slow down, they are the ones to teach me. I want to cultivate an atmosphere of WONDER in our home, of noticing the little details of life that actually make life full and fun. I want my kids to be able to savor each new experience that weaves its way into their lives – but I am only just learning how to do that myself. I want my kids to be able to live life to its fullest. But wait… they probably already are and will continue to as long as I don’t pull and push them into box of ‘supposed to’ and ‘ought to’ and the like. I want to enter their world – and then teach them how to relish every detail, teach them how to extract all the fullness of life that they can.

I want to enter their world and then together, with them, broaden their horizons.

Plus, in their world dirty laundry isn’t a task that needs to be done – it is evidence of a day lived to the max!