Our most recent race ended in a tie for first. I had graciously carried Chaya, our 9 month old baby girl, to the finish. After celebrating the victory, by opening the garage door, Chaya and I went back out to cheer Noah on. Something, however, silenced any prodding words. It was the look on his face. He was standing there, just steps away from our back deck, hands in coat pockets, head tilted back, eyes squinted, looking into the sky. And he was smiling. I could now hear the sound of birds chattering in our backyard pine tree and fluttering about the yard and the sky above. This is a sound that I was deaf to before. I looked at Chaya and she gave me a sweet little smile. I realized at that point that I was the only one in a hurry. It wasn't that cold out. Destination "X" could wait.
I watched as Noah tried to chase the birds with his eyes as they flew around him. He pointed at them and told me that he was "watching eagles." I smiled. Again, something kept me from enlightening him that they were actually just sparrows. It didn't matter to him what they actually were. At that moment they were eagles soaring, high up in the sky, right in his own back yard. I wasn't watching the birds. I was watching my son. I was soaking up the delight that was on his face. I was looking at the boy I once was, the boy that had gotten lost somewhere on the road to adulthood.
As I write this conviction is swelling up inside me. Why am I in such a hurry to get stuff done? And all it is is stuff. Stuff fills up my day, distracts me, and squelches the fire in my soul. Why does the pace of my life need to be so fast? As I run this race, what's more important, coming in first or the people who are running with me? When Jesus said that if we want to be a part of his Kingdom, that we ought to have the faith of a child. I believe that this is the essence of that statement. Children are carefree, not out of ignorance, but because they have a no nonsense approach to believing in God. They're not bogged down by faithless worries, irrational fears, and doubt. The faith of kids is pure, real, simple. God wants us to have that type of trust in Him so that we can fully enjoy the life He has given to us. He wants us to stop and marvel at his creation, whether that is birds in flight or the little children that are flying with them.
- Matthew 6:26
"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"
