Through the Eyes of a Child

“Let the children come to me! Don’t try to stop them. People who are like these little children belong to the kingdom of God. I promise you that you cannot get into God’s kingdom, unless you accept it the way a child does.”
Mark 10:14-15

 

It was a regular Wednesday night.

Mom and I were in Jollibee. I was half-chewing, the other half was trying to stay awake. I was exhausted and almost in a daze, taking large bites from my burger. Everything seemed so dull. I was chewing, swallowing, and chewing again. Everything was dull. I felt so exhausted at that time that I was sure if I leaned my back against the chair I would turn into ice cream and melt in my seat. I did not expect anything interesting to happen to me that day.

But then, my head was forcibly pulled backwards and a small pang of pain stung my scalp. I felt someone pull my hair behind me, tugging more than once. I put a hand in my hair in shock and turned my head over my shoulder to look at whatever was causing the pulls. I was greeted by a warm and playful smile of a three year old girl. She was looking at my hair, her tiny stubby fingers playing with the strands. I couldn’t help but smile back. She was playing with my hair, giggling as her fingers went through the locks. I forgot  all about those small stings of pain.

“Hi.” I said. She looked up at me as if seeing me for the first time and then beamed. She waved her little hand at my face enthusiastically, smiling from ear to ear. It was adorable. I didn’t feel that tired anymore. She looked so happy that it felt as if my exhaustion was lifted from my shoulders.

Children. It would really make sense why the kingdom of God was said to belong to them. As I was looking at that little girl, I almost felt sad. That was because I forgot. I forgot that a part of this world still held no malice, still held that innocence and joy. I forgot that something like that still existed.

It was a little gut wrenching to find out that I’ve become so accustomed to thinking that this world was filled with nothing but lies, evil, death, and selfishness. It saddens me that I’ve grown used to looking at the world that way. But children; they remind us of what a world is supposed to be. That little girl smiled at me as if I was the most important thing she’d ever seen. She looked so happy.

I have forgotten what it’s like to be a child; to see the word as if it’s a safe haven. I have forgotten.  Haven’t we all? After being a kid I feel as if we lose that side of us. We lose this trust we have of this world.

But I think that’s why children are the ones who can see God’s kingdom. They see God’s goodness, they trust, they love, and they are able to become happy just by looking at these small things. For the girl, she was happy just playing with my hair.

Maybe, God’s kingdom has always existed among us. Maybe we’ve only forgotten to see. In a child’s eyes this world is still full of wonders. It is full of things that are explainable and fascinating.

I have forgotten. I’ve grown accustomed to seeing this world as a scary place.  But in a child’s eyes, it’s different. It’s almost magical.

That’s why they can see God’s kingdom easily. The Kingdom of God belongs to them, the ones whose eyes are pure.

That’s what we should learn from these little children. We should learn to take a look at the world differently, to trust more, to see everything as fascinating instead of seeing it as terrifying. We should learn how to see the world through the eyes of a child. That is because we have no idea what we’re missing.