Week #35 (Aug 25-Sep.1, 2019)

The Beauty of Innocence!

 

Week #35 (Aug 26-Sep.1, 2019) - The Beauty of Innocence!

There’s a park close to my house that also has an outdoor workout area. I love this park because it provides a perfect opportunity for me to workout outdoors (gotta take advantage of the summers in Canada), and spend time with my son, who either plays at the park (within eyesight) or “works out” with me. His attempts at emulating me typically end up with him flailing his limbs and running in circles, which is always cute to watch. Naturally, as it’s a park, sometimes there are other kids and it’s fascinating to see how quickly and easily these kids (total strangers to each other) quickly strike up a friendship and start playing with each other. I typically don’t think much about it - kids play, it’s what they do - but something happened this week that had me reflecting.Towards the end of my workout, some kids and their caregivers were just arriving at the park. Within minutes, Mason was chatting with them and the toy car set they brought had become a group activity. This took place for maybe 10 minutes at most before I was completed my workout and we had to leave the park. Mason said his Thank Yous and Goodbyes and we walked away. As we walked, one of Mason’s new friends ran up, stopped us and presented us with one of the toy cars asking if Mason wanted to keep it. He insisted he wanted to gift Mason the car so we graciously accepted the present.In the grand scheme of things, what was the value of the car? Probably not much. But at the kid’s age, I highly doubt he has a sense or appreciation of the value of things. A child will gladly roll around in mud because they have no concept of how cheap/expensive their clothes are. A parent (myself 🙄) might have different shoes for their kids for different occasions. There are the “nice” shoes for going out that are to be kept clean, and then there are “park” shoes which can be muddied up to the heart’s content. As the parent, I know the value of each shoe, but Mason doesn’t. So no matter what he’s wearing, if there’s a play area in sight, no matter how clean or dirty, he will be there. So young children don’t have an appreciation for the value of things. Children are mostly impulse driven. They want to do something, so they set out to do it. And that was the situation with this kid gifting Mason one of his toy cars within 10 minutes of meeting him for the first time and striking up a friendship. That got me thinking about the innocence of children and the beauty that lays therein. The innocence of meeting people with an open mind. The innocence of not placing too much value on material things. The innocence of sharing possessions.Although I try, I can’t say I’m as generous as I should be. Nor do I make friends as easily as my son does. Perhaps that’s just life. As we grow up, we eventually face the stark reality of the sinful world we live in. We get hurt, parts of us are broken, so we vow to protect ourselves. We guard our hearts (rightfully so), and approach most of our interactions with a slightly defensive stance. This affects all of us, although to varying degrees. Somehow perhaps inevitably, the world strips us of our awe and wonder and we all grow just a little bit cynical. The world is not all fun & games, this much is true. But it is still worth considering what we lose with age. I personally look forward to the day when God will fix the sin issue in the world and restore wholeness to creation. But until then, I have a choice in how I decide to navigate the spaces of the fallen creation I inhabit. A choice in how I mediate my interactions with other adult children. With open-mindedness, humility, generosity, and Christ-like love? Or with assumptions, miserliness and self-focus?Something about that little toy car gift, reminded me there is beauty in innocence….and some of that is worth preserving. After all, was it not Jesus himself who said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3-4)Until next week, 

#KnowItsRealP.S. Do you relate to this? If so, how? If not, why not?

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