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| Lex plays with a balloon at his 1st birthday party. |
His childlike wonder --- the sheer delight that he takes in seemingly mundane, ordinary things --- both warms my heart as his father and quickens memories of my own childhood.
For his first birthday, dear friends of ours gave Lex some amazing toys --- toys that chirped, lit up, sang, whirred, buzzed, chimed, talked, clanged, banged... all the types of toys that give a parent peace and calm after a long day.
Lex certainly enjoys the wonderful toys that stimulate his visual and aural senses, but those stimulants quickly fade to the background as Lex (I assume like other children) prefers instead to explore blocks, empty boxes and balloons.
The delight that Lex takes in a simple balloon blows my mind. To me, a balloon seems so simplistic, so basic; and yet, my son lights up with extreme excitement when he comes face to face with a brightly colored, floating sphere.
And it is not just a balloon...the immeasurable happiness that Lex experiences while playing in a sandbox, petting a doggy and banging twigs on the ground allows me to rediscover the simplicity of pure joy. I am rediscovering the world through his eyes.
I think that children (whether ours or not) are God's way of reminding adults of simple wonder, simple faith, simple happiness.
It is so easy, especially in our current culture, to get caught up in the rat race; isn't it?
We work hard in order to keep up with the Joneses and amass wealth; and we think that all the toys, the gadgets, the whirring, buzzing, flashing material things that chime, talk, clang and bang equate to the Pursuit of Happiness promised to us in the American Dream. But that is simply not the case
2 POINTS OF BALANCE: Please understand what I am not saying.
1) Scripture tells us to "put away childish things" (1 Cor.13:11), but that is not what I am talking about. Side note on that: if that thought/Scripture came to your mind as a challenge to what I am saying, I would recommend reading that verse within the context of what the author was saying, but that is neither here nor there... I am talking about a childlike sense of wonder, a childlike sense of faith, a childlike sense of happiness and the Pursuit of it.
2) I am not speaking against hard work, diligence, amassing wealth, laying up inheritances, etc... I am speaking against the idea that permeates our culture: a belief that amassing material things is the Pursuit of Happiness.
Even with the best of intentions, I think that this destructive ideology of "stuff = happiness" permeates our thinking, yours and mine. But what if we decided to turn away from that illegitimate version of the Pursuit of Happiness? What if we lived with childlike faith? What if we took a cue from the children around us and rediscovered happiness in all of its simplicity? What if we viewed life --- and God for that matter --- through a child's eyes? Wouldn't that be Exceptional Living?
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Here is a video clip from a musical I wrote and directed back in 2003, entitled HEART OF A DREAM. My character has grown jaded from life, and he has recently returned to an island where he and his brother grew up with their missionary father and where his brother still serves.
This scene/conversation takes place with my character and his nephew, who reminds him of the simplicity of childlike faith. Please excuse the video quality and audio quality as it was taken from a VHS (yes, I just said VHS)
I wonder if, much like my character, our childlike faith is out of reach because our arms have grown too long and because we're standing way too tall...
