A Young Dad’s Reflections on his Children
September 7, 2008
“Sophia, you need to use the spoon,” Rachael gently instructed. Our sweet, precocious little princess looked down at the materials with which she and Mama were working: two bowls-one filled with uncooked beans-and a spoon to transfer the beans from one bowl to the other. The wheels spun fast and furious in Sophia’s 28 month-old brain. She picked up the spoon, and put the handle in her mouth. Rachael halted her instinctive words of correction for a moment, long enough to see where this action was going.
Then, in a triumphant mingling of subversion and obedience, Sophia lowered the lip-held spoon to the bowl of beans, maneuvered several beans on board, and flawlessly transferred them to the empty bowl, with gleaming eyes fixed on Rachael the entire time.
Since I am a pastor and I’m telling this story, you are probably expecting a lesson from it, a moral. As of yet I do not have one. I simply run the reel through my mind over and over and marvel at the wonder of life, especially of little lives like my children. What an astonishing thing that this little person, once able to do nothing more than eat, sleep, and recycle, now functions with such nuanced creativity that she can simultaneously follow instructions and do things her way!
Other scenes fill me with equal amazement. Only yesterday I was holding Stephan as he sobbed for no apparent reason, at my wit’s end as to how I could help him. Then, without a word, Marcus walked over with a sippy cup and handed it to his crying twin who was instantly placated by the knowing gift. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139:6).
Perhaps the most indelibly imprinted image of my children came a few weeks ago when Rachael and I paused from our long day to hug in the kitchen. After a few seconds, we looked to our right and saw Sophia and Marcus embracing with equal affection only a few feet away. No words I could piece together would adequately reproduce the sweetness and potency of that moment.
Children. God’s idea, God’s blessings. They are little mirrors that show us the best in us and the worst in us. Beyond that, they help crumble paradigms that have become encrusted the more we as adults abandon wonder and discovery in the midst of paying bills and devouring entertainment. Let us learn from these little ones, for to such belong the kingdom of God.
Pastor Chris