CHILDREN’S EYES
Starlight tonight; lightning bugs in jars –
Plucked out of the darkness like falling stars.
Bright eyes can’t disguise the wonders and the joys,
The mysteries within the minds of little boys.
My mind can’t find what it is you see,
Until you take me by the hand to lead me.
Chorus:
Children’s eyes can see a world that we no longer see.
When we’re with them, we regain a sense of awe and beauty.
Baseball, snowfall, the circus and the zoo;
Castles, ships, and animals that talk to you.
The wonders we ponder are hidden from the wise;
Revealed now in splendor through children’s eyes!
Christmas bells, lights and smells; The Advent Jesse tree,
A baby in a manger you can touch and see.
For so long I’ve been wrong and focused on each flaw;
Until I looked with children’s eyes I never saw.
Thank you for what you do, God who really sees,
For you’ve become a child yourself so we might see.
A Christmas Crisis
“Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 18:3
“And a little child will lead them.” – Isaiah 11:6
Sometime in junior high I remember having a crisis at Christmastime. It was a crisis of perception, and it deepened over the next few years, becoming especially pointed by the time I reached college. Simply put, the world no longer seemed as beautiful, mysterious, and wonderful as it always had before.
During my childhood, creation had seemed to hold a poignant magic for me. Now everything seemed dull, ordinary, even ugly. I remember sharing this with my mother. She told me that the marvelous nature of things like Christmas lights would always be there and would someday come back to me. This would be especially true when I had children of my own and could look at the world through their eyes.
As my sons came along, my mother’s prediction proved true! The boys brought a vision of the world and an undiminished wonder that was free of the cynicism and self-consciousness that rob many people of joy and blind their vision. The world around became more marvelous just by being with them.
One night when they were young, we had a wonderful evening chasing lightning bugs. They cried out in wonder as they saw the little lights flickering in the backyard. It was a special night together. I felt a piercing delight in my children, a love that seemed uncontainable.
As I began to pray and thank God for my children and this experience, I became aware of a different sort of love. But this love was not from me; it was for me. I was experiencing the glorious love of my Heavenly Father. It was as though he were telling me, “What you feel for your two sons, that is how I feel about you.”
Could it be? I suppose any believer would assent that God loves him or her. But do they really believe that? And what do we mean by “love?” Maybe our view of the love of God is that it is somehow divine and distant or maybe just by obligation. But this feeling? This fierce, overpowering delight? Could God above have feelings toward me (and you) that are remotely like this? The answer is an emphatic yes!
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.” I John 3:1
That realization of the love of God has made all the difference in my life. Whatever good there may be in my life is due to this magnificent love. God’s allowing me to apprehend his love has energized and inspired my spiritual life. Can you feel the power of verses like:
- Ephesians 5:1, describing us as “dearly loved children”
- I John 4:8, which teaches the simple and powerful truth: “God is love”?
There is a profound love that created us, seeks us, and surrounds us. It is the highest, most ancient, and greatest love – the love of the heavenly Father for all those who through His Son Jesus have become his beloved children. I pray that you might know that love forever,
“That you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19).
And that is the greatest wonder and joy of all!