As long as your parents are alive, there is still a part of you that is a child. Once they pass on, it sometimes seems that the child within us dies too. We are now the older generation. Even when a parent dies when a person is still young, a part of their childhood ends.
Children are innocent, joyful and trusting. They live each day fully; sometimes thinking about the future, but only if there's an upcoming holiday or special occasion. They notice the little things in life--a bug on the window, a flower, the birds, the animals.
It's not so much our age or whether our parents are alive or have passed on that determines whether the child within us still lives--it's our attitude towards life. No, we can't retain our innocence; life takes that away. But we can live each day fully, one day at a time. We can savor the beauty around us. There is beauty and goodness everywhere no matter how bad our circumstances might be.
One of my Facebook friends often posts little videos with pictures of gardens, birds or other wonders of nature. She lives alone and recently had surgery which confined her to her home for three weeks. I'm sure those little videos brightened her day as they did mine.
I am currently reading a book, Mother Angelica's Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality, by Raymond Arroyo. It's a compilation of many of her wise sayings. She was a woman who grew up living as an only child with her mother. She suffered many physical ailments throughout her life. Yet she had a great sense of humor and looked at life's difficulties from a positive angle.
Jesus says that in our relationship with God we must be like little children.
I assure you, unless you change and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of God. Matthew 18:3
Let's pray for and strive to grow in trust of God and His great love for us and to keep the child within us alive.
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