Life in a Child's Eye

Have you ever sat back and watched a child live life? It is a really cool thing to do. To just sit and watch the way they approach life and interact with each other is amazing and is unscripted. Hollywood could not script anything like it if they put all of their most talented writers together. Their actions are usually very raw and very natural. They haven’t really been around long enough to be taught how to “behave” so most of what they do comes from raw human instinct. Maybe they have learned some things from their environment, but a lot of what they do comes natural to them.
Have you ever watched a kid tell about something that has happened to or around them? They get so excited about what they are telling you. They really get into the story by telling you all the details (mostly in a random order). Children use colorful descriptions and loud sound effects to tell their version. They get their entire bodies into to the story to express the event. They really love telling stories and make the listener feel like they had been there.
Everything is exciting and new to them. There is still an entire world of possibilities out there for them to explore and learn. They get so excited about learning something new. When our kids get home from school and we sit down to eat dinner, my wife and I will go around the table and ask the ones that are in school, “What did you learn at school today?” This takes the conversation way beyond just asking them if they had a good day.
Kids do not worry a lot either. Some do worry but for the most part kids are fairly fancy-free. (Try saying that five times really fast!) They just play and have fun not really worrying about what everybody thinks. Kids do not have to worry about things such as where the next meal is going to come from, how a certain bill will get paid, being cool, having a boy/girlfriend, etc. They can relax and just concentrate on being themselves, a kid.
They have instantaneous punishment for doing another kid wrong, the lesson gets learned and they move on still friends and cohorts. They do not hold grudges nor try to “get even” all the time. They forgive each other and seemingly forget and move on. They do not sue each other over silly things. Issues among friends do not fester and grow; they deal with them and go on being friends. Now granted the ‘dealing with it’ may be an all-out brawl, but once it is over, it is over and they go on being friends.
Kids are very trusting and want so badly to be helpful. They haven’t learned yet to be leery of every Tom, Dick, and Harry that comes along. They aren’t afraid to put themselves out there and take risks. No one has told them yet that they can’t so they try whatever they want and learn what they are made for that way. They want so badly to help. They do not always do the best job in helping, but their heart is in the right place.
Somewhere between then and now adults loose their childhood. Yes, there are certain childish things that should be left behind, but our approach to life should stay pretty much the same, only our skills should get better. Our stories should be energetic and exciting. We should really put ourselves into the stories we tell so others can get the full benefit of it. We should get excited about learning something new. None of us know everything there is to know about anything. We shouldn’t worry about things so much. Does worrying add a single day to our lives? No, it actually takes days away! We should not worry so much about what others think of us and just be how we were created to be. God meant for us to enjoy life and He gave us rules to live by not to stifle life, but so we could get maximum benefit from it. Granted we shouldn’t go around getting into brawls with everyone we have issue with, but we should deal with issues as soon as we can instead of letting them fester. When someone does us wrong, do not hold a grudge, sue, or try to get ‘even’, just deal with it, admit fault where fault is, forgive, and move on through life as fellow humans doing the best we can to serve an awesome God. Never, never lose the desire to help others. It seems that when we are little with no skills we want to help, but when we get grown and have acquired skills, we no longer want to help. I understand what it means to get burned and not want to let it happen to you again, but is becoming cold, skeptical and paranoid of everyone the answer?
Attacking life through the eyes of a child can be very liberating. Jesus tells us to become like little children to Him if we are to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. A child’s actions may not always be the best idea but their desire to live life to the fullest is something to be desired.