A Child's Perspective
Tonight my son and I were sitting down to the table for his bed time snack. As we do before all of our meals, we started to say a small prayer. Our dinner prayer usually goes something like this, "Jesus, thank you for our family and for this food we are about to eat. May you use it to nourish our body. In Jesus' name, Amen." Lately, Benjamin has been wanting to say the prayer and he will repeat it after us. Tonight however, for his bedtime snack, this sweet, beautiful child sitting across the table from me blessed me in a way that he will probably never know. It went a little like this.
"Benjamin, would you like to pray before your snack? Bow your head and close your eyes." He folded his hands, bowed his head, and with those big brown eyes still open, glancing upward at me, he began to repeat...
"Dear Jesus..."
"Dear Jesus"
"Thank you for our food..."
"Tank you food"
"And thank you for our family..."
"Tank you family"
And then for the first time, I said to him, "Benjamin, is there anything else you want to thank Jesus for?" With his head still bowed, hands still folded and those innocent eyes looking right at me, he got a huge smile on his face and said,
"Tank you house, tank you gama (grandma), tank you ride bike, tank you pool, tank you walk new stroller (taking a walk in our new stroller), tank you crackers, tank you cheese, tank you mommy. AMEN!"
Oh my goodness. I was so shocked that he basically went through his whole day and what mattered most to him, he truly showed gratitude for. What a beautiful perspective.
I love that in a dark and desperate world, our children are able to see the good in everything. They are able to take the small things in life, the things we often take for granted, and use them to put a smile on our face, put joy and hope back into our hearts and remind us that although we may be hurting, there are blessing all around us. While life may be difficult and unfair and sometimes almost unbearable, let us take the lead from our children and focus a little more on the simple things. For those are often what makes this life beautiful.
"Benjamin, would you like to pray before your snack? Bow your head and close your eyes." He folded his hands, bowed his head, and with those big brown eyes still open, glancing upward at me, he began to repeat...
"Dear Jesus..."
"Dear Jesus"
"Thank you for our food..."
"Tank you food"
"And thank you for our family..."
"Tank you family"
And then for the first time, I said to him, "Benjamin, is there anything else you want to thank Jesus for?" With his head still bowed, hands still folded and those innocent eyes looking right at me, he got a huge smile on his face and said,
"Tank you house, tank you gama (grandma), tank you ride bike, tank you pool, tank you walk new stroller (taking a walk in our new stroller), tank you crackers, tank you cheese, tank you mommy. AMEN!"
Oh my goodness. I was so shocked that he basically went through his whole day and what mattered most to him, he truly showed gratitude for. What a beautiful perspective.
I love that in a dark and desperate world, our children are able to see the good in everything. They are able to take the small things in life, the things we often take for granted, and use them to put a smile on our face, put joy and hope back into our hearts and remind us that although we may be hurting, there are blessing all around us. While life may be difficult and unfair and sometimes almost unbearable, let us take the lead from our children and focus a little more on the simple things. For those are often what makes this life beautiful.
This made me tear up! What an awesome story to share. <3
ReplyDelete