The reality is children can teach us more about life than we ever imagined. I am not a parent and haven't had the joy of learning from my own child but just watching little ones who are in my life I can say they are miracles. Their vivacious personalities make you wish you were a child. They have not one care in the world, no job or bills to stress over, and no grudges to hold. Their souls are free and so beautiful. Have you ever sat back and actually thought of the life lessons children can teach us? Have you ever looked at how they operate their little lives and wondered how much better life would be if we too operated in ways like them? Just look at the few aspects of life they can teach us about.
1. They love in a way thats all their own.
Each child has their own special way of displaying love. The beauty of these tiny humans love is they do not know the definition of love, they do not understand you are supposed to love, therefore the love they do show is true love. They somehow form their very own definition of love, how do they know they are supposed to love their parents when they are young? It is something beautiful about a childs pureness and innocence that makes you appreciate their love. You know it is not forced, you know it is not taught, you know it is actually love.
2. Anywhere is a possibility.
Possibilities are endless at a young age. California isn't miles away to them but instead far far away. Distance is a concept they have yet to comprehend therefore going anywhere is not impossible. They do not actually see limits, to them not much stands in their way except their parents when they say no to their request. What a lovely perception of life. The limits they eventually learn about are taught to them by society. What if we as adults had this perception on life? What if we stopped limiting ourselves so much? We overthink things and have taken the simplicities out of life. Take a lesson from a child and imagine the world as a place where things are possible instead of impossible.
3. The biggest decisions they face day to day are what sucker flavor should I pick or do I want to paint or use markers?
Although these decisions seem silly and ridiculous to us these children take them just as serious as we would take picking a paint color to paint the walls. The choice these children do make is one they take pride in. As I asked the sweet girl pictured above what she thought the hardest thing to do is? Her response to this was "Umm I would say breaking a rock, thats pretty hard." It took a few minutes to get that response because she stopped to think. My random irrelevant question was one she took time to think then respond. We seem to live life on the go never taking time to do much, much less to think. We as adults should start taking into consideration the big and small choices we make in life. Taking the time to make a decision, big or small, can one day benefit you.
4. One cry or temper tantrum can eventually solve everything.
There is nothing a good cry or fit can't fix. No matter what pushed them to the point of tears they eventually dry up and the problem is never thought about again. Whether it is giving them what they want, putting a band aid on their injury, crying themselves to sleep, or them simply getting over it, a few tears seem to eventually solve it all. As many times as some of us have tried crying it just doesn't do the trick anymore. The tears, screaming, and tantrums are never fun at the time but take notice to the calm after the storm. There is not much a few tears can't resolve at this age. Find a way to let your anger, pain, sadness, hurt, or aggravation out, do whatever works for you, once you are done go on with your day and never look back. Harping on these sorts of emotions does no good. What if children were constantly crying because of the one scratched up knee? They don't, they let it out and get on with the show.
5. Their forgiveness is beyond compare.
Whether you pinch their hands in the door, don't buy them the toy they carried around Wal-Mart expecting to leave with, or you get onto them for taking arts and crafts to the walls and furniture they always seem to move on. No matter how upset or how bad you hurt their feelings they somehow let it go at some point. Once they have moved on it seems the incident was completely erased from their minds. They do not hold grudges or chips on their shoulder for days at a time.
We would like to say as adults we are good at forgiving others but there are many of us who haven't quite mastered the whole concept. Forgiveness is something that can be hard to do at times especially in some situations. Think of how care free and enjoyable their lives are, they hold no grudges and simply forgive others without yet knowing it. If we were to do as children do in this situation would the chips on our shoulder be things of our past? Would we refuse to let grudges taunt us? Try it sometime and see what kind of weight it takes off your chest.
6. The smallest things in life mean so much sometimes.
Whether it's snow cones, a sticker from the treasure box at the dentist, or some ugly dollar store necklace they picked out, it is sometimes the small things that mean the most. What an art to enjoy all things especially the small ones, God made them all and they deserve to be recognized. Children somehow have the gift of appreciating the tiniest of things and bringing us back to the reality that sometimes less is more.
Jesus said,"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these."
Matthew 19:14
