Sometimes when I look at my little people, I realize that we live in different worlds. We share a home and time, activities and the rhythm of our days, but in many ways our worlds are so far apart that they rarely collide.
Mine is a world that values responsibility and order and timeliness, theirs a world that values curiosity, exploration, and the pursuit of joy. We value the product, they the process. We value expediency and they experience.
How many of us don’t find ourselves dragging a child along to the car while they are very serious about exploring the grass that paves the way? How often do we hear ourselves talk about baths or homework or chores while they, oblivious to our pleas, remain content dancing to the music in their heads.
And it’s good that we value the things we do. Someone needs to focus on adult matters, and it usually works best if its the one who can reach the stove and drive the car. But who is to say that we shouldn’t also be valuing the priorities of their world? Who is to say that it isn’t of the utmost importance to wear a tiara to church or have sparkles on our fingers for soccer practice. Our world tells us these are trivialities, but does that give us the right to overlook what their world is telling them? Isn’t it the ultimate hubris to say that it is solely up to us to determine what really matters?
Perhaps we might be just a bit more happy if we were able to cross into their world just a bit more. If we spent more time dealing with sparkles and feathers and make believe and a little less time on social niceties and inconsequential standards.
If the Bible praises the perspective of the child, who are we to turn a blind eye?
