Monday, September 27, 2010

A Kid's Perspective

I was struck with a funny thought the other night. My four year old was eating at the table without the booster chair. Aside from being too cute it hit me that because her eyes can barely peer over the table, she can hardly see her own food. I have faint memories of those days so long ago.

You may be privy to this phenomenon also, but anytime we use the mixer for pancakes or brownies (basically the only cooking daddy does) all three little people in my house beg to sit on the counter or to stand on a chair in order to see. How strange a world they must live in! They can’t always see what they’re eating. Meanwhile these towering giants (mom and dad) are relied upon for sustenance and to provide them with nearly everything.

How many times this week have I wished the two year old to change his own diaper or for the seven year old to babysit her siblings so mom and dad can go out to dinner? While I bemoan any of the inconveniences I am reminded that I have great power within the house – that my kids trust me inherently. If all kids knew what normalcy was then there’d be a bunch of ‘em walking out of their abusive homes towards some kind of unemployment line where they could just sign up for more trustworthy parents.

You’ll love this. The four year old was discussing Jana’s job with her. Mom’s a Labor & Delivery nurse. Every time mom goes to work somebody goes home with a new baby. So our little one wanted to know why so many babies were coming out of mommy’s tummy. Perspective. We had never thought that Jana’s job could be interpreted as one in which a nurse were a surrogate mom at the rate of five babies per week. We laughed in utter disbelief and reached out to give her a hug. As we scratched our heads we were also reminded of the responsibility and lifetime of parenting ahead of us.

Proverbs 3:5 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Just as our kids blindly trust us (at least so far), God calls us to trust Him. We don’t have his perspective. Remembering that God is our Father just as we are our kids’ parents can yield great trust, humility, and perspective. Just imagine all the things we say and do that make Him shake his head and laugh. He then responds as parents do, reaching out for a hug and taking great pride in us.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I can relate to not being able to see so high up. I can still remember... long, long ago when your dad and Uncle Bob and the rest of us were all kids. I was the youngest, therefore, the shortest for quite awhile. One Thanksgiving down at Grandma & Grandpa's (and Auntee's), it was time for dinner. I said I would go get Bruce... Grandma or Auntee or someone told me, he's already here - standing right in front of you... well dang, he was 10 ft, I was 3 feet, my neck couldn't bend that far back for me to see. *g*