Seeing the World Through the Eyes of a 2 Year Old

The last few months I have been watching my boss's two year old son. He is an adorable little boy and I haven't decided who is teaching who more.

A couple of nights ago we were playing outside when little man took me on an adventure. He began taking in all of his surroundings, noticing every little stick, bug, acorn, etc. and being amazed. Every discovery was a new wonder. Even though we looked at about 20 different sticks that night, he carefully examined each one before taking them from the middle of the field and moving them out of the way like he had seen his mommy do several minutes before. With each new sound, we were off on another adventure and he continued to be amazed by everything we saw and heard...even something as mundane as a storm drain.

In the middle of the field in front of the seminary, there is a volleyball net. As we were playing with his soccer ball at the net, little man noticed the drain that is in the middle of the field to drain off the excess precipitation in the case of a storm. He was amazed by each of the holes and bumps and studied each one. Many times all I heard was "WOW!" The examination of each hole brought on another "WOW!" Even though each hole was exactly the same, he experienced each one as if it were the first. We probably stayed at that storm drain for 10 minutes just exploring.

This experience has taught me that so many times, we miss the little things like storm drains that are around us, because we are constantly rushing from one place to the next and one thing to the next. We have so much to do that we never take the time to just take it all in. This is exactly what we have been discussing in our spirituality class. We become so rushed that we forget to engage with our surroundings and the people who God is placing in our lives. We don't take time to recognize our humanity and presence in this world while also finding the divine within our surroundings.

If we really believe that God created man and woman in the image of God, then why do we not treat interactions with each other as a holy, spiritual time? If we believe that God created the world around us, why do we not take the time to enjoy the creation and experience the Creator in new and different ways? Why are we not fully engaging with our surroundings and recognizing the presence of God in our lives as they are not as they should be?