I believe I've mentioned (in every post since Sunday) that my children are gone this week. They are in Iowa having a ball with their grandparents, aunt and other friends and family. My Bigger Picture Moment actually does not belong to me this week, but to my mother.Tuesday night she and I were talking. She had spent Monday and Tuesday with the two-year-old and four-year-old along with their cousins. As she was telling me what they'd been doing, she kept telling me the little details that fascinated them: finding snails by the creek in back of her house, watching the tiger at the zoo who put on a show for the audience, going to the library two days in a row to check out Scooby-Doo videos, the four-year-old asking everyone he met how old they are. Finally she said, "It's amazing to watch life through the eyes of a child because they think everything is absolutely wonderful!"
Ah ha! Bigger Picture Moment!
Isn't that true, though? While we walk right past them, children stop and smell the flowers. While chills go up our spines at the thought of creepy, crawly things, children bend down to take in every details of God's other creatures (and then, often, squash them). While we don't even say hello to people we pass, children will strike up conversation. Because to them every little detail of life is amazing!
I think I need to be a little more intentional about experiencing life this way.
(Oh, and by the way, the four-year-old rode 2 1/2 miles on his bike Tuesday night - the bigger picture in that is my realization that this mommy better get exercising if she ever wants to keep up!)
And for more Bigger Picture Moments visit Corinne here and don't forget to link up with your own moment.
6 comments:
It's so true, it's wonderful to see the excitement in every little thing (and remembering that it's a GOOD thing instead of noting how it taxes ten time longer to do anything because of said excitement!) :)
Thank you for linking up!!
Every little thing. My boys are excited for the same. I can't help but be infected with it some days, but it should be most days.
Great post!
Oh, yes...the dreaded (wonderful) discoveries of children :)
I think the lesson for me, in this, is that even if we allow our children all the time they need (as I think you do), we still don't often stop and marvel at the sweetness of our kids in their discoveries. It takes someone who doesn't usually get to see that, to appreciate it fully.
Hope your mom and sister are enjoying your boys this week!
Through the eyes of a child... I so agree with this post! Things are clearer, simpler, sweeter when you see them the way a child does. Lovely!
When my daughter was still quite a young baby, pointing at the ceiling in Target where all the Easter decorations were hanging my father who was with me said "children notice every little thing, things we never even begin to see." It is so very true, they are not burdened with mental to do lists and all the things we allow ourselves to get weighted down with and so they take the time to notice everything and to marvel and simply enjoy. It is a lesson we could all do with learning a little better. Lovely post.
Jill, yes! You are keyed into what make childhood so brilliant and wonderful. It is that ability to slow down and find the lovliness and wonder in every little thing God created. And instead of being irritated when we're on walks to the park when my almost-three-year-old son stops to eye up the ants marching along the sidewalk, I need to stop and wonder in amazement at His creations, too. So glad you linked up.
Post a Comment