Children Teach Adults How to Simply Be

Little people love to peer closely at tiny objects. Perhaps it is because they are closer to the ground but they stop at every flower and bug, especially a bug on a flower. All their attention is riveted as they look, touch, smell, even lick each wonderful new discovery. At first it was difficult to slow down during our walks and let the toddlers  set the pace but what wonderful instruction in relaxing and becoming fully present to the moment.

At first I was only capable of enjoying whatever captured my children's notice but now I realize that they were experiencing so much more than I  initially thought. In their silent, non-verbal attention to nature, they were in deep communion with God Himself as He is present in His creation. Adults struggle for years to merely glimpse the intimacy that little children have naturally with God. They do not need to strive or work for this state of contemplation because they are without guile, prior opinions or expectations; they are open and look with trust, ready to absorb the love, joy and peace that envelopes them.

 "Unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of God."