Ok, so I've known for quite some time that I miss out on a lot--I'm not what you could call a very observant person. I taught aerobics last year at the YMCA which was across town. Four days of the week I made the same drive--the same buildings, the same landmarks, the same scenery. You would think I would know the drive up, down, inside and out. However, this year, I have noticed several new things, including new buildings, which are large and stand out....What the heck?
The other day, I made yet another new discovery while driving this route. An old white house caught my eye. The house was nothing special, yet, I fell in love. Now, this discovery made my thoughts start going in all sorts of directions...which can be good or bad, as I'm sure anyone knows. I started wondering what else I miss on a day to day basis. What other things, big or small, do I go right past without even giving a second thought or look?
Sunday afternoons have blessed me with the chance to hang out with some really cool kids at an inner city mission church. We play with trains, have bible stories, eat snacks, and do all the other things that 1-5 year old kids do. This Sunday, which was my last Sunday at the church, I helped out in the older class. Let me start by saying it was total chaos. These kids were crazy. Now, I love the craziness, but it's hard to tell a bible story when you've got 15 or so kids singing, drawing, running around, and even text messaging...yes, that's right, a 4th grader with a cell phone. (that's a whole different thought process there). At one point, the kids were working on a word scramble that covered major parts of the Beatitudes. Some were really struggling, so the exercise was time consuming. However, there was one kid, Tadarius, who finished rather quickly. I was not sitting close to him when he finished, as I was consumed with keeping 3 other boys from breaking my friend's guitar strings, but I did manage to make my way over to him when the others chilled out. Tadarius was sitting and reading page one of his bible. Now, some might say page one, well woo son....but lucky for me, this was not something I just passed by.
Instead of interrupting right away, I sat and watched him read the first verses in the book of Genesis. I finally asked him what he was doing, and he simply responded with reading. You may be thinking that was the obvious answer, but I didn't know if he was being punished and had to sit to the side, or if he was just working on something. No, he was simply reading. So, I asked him to read it out loud to me. We sat and read through the story of creation and I asked him to summarize the different days and parts of the story. He blew me away. There sat this young boy, probably 9 or 10 years old, who was bursting with excitement to learn about when God created dark, light, fish, and people. It was one of the coolest moments of my life.
I realized this--I'm missing out on the excitement of the small things in life. I may sound old, but I wonder if life is passing me by? When was the last time I sat down to read and really tried to learn? And if I did, when was I truly excited about it? What would happen if I approached each and every opportunity with the attitude of Tadarius and "simply read", enjoying all that time and our creator has to offer?
What if we all did?
