The beauty of each individual child

I read the following quote this evening by G.K. Chesterton that resonated with my soul so deeply.  I've discovered the words on written paper that flow through my heart so strongly regarding each individual child.  I've felt this since I was young.  My mother said I was Anne Shirley with a million interests, but nothing compared to the thought of motherhood and marriage.  I knew that each new baby was a whole new world to come into this world.  Each of my siblings was not just another person, but a whole NEW person that the world has never known.  I loved school.  I loved the beauties of this world, but A BABY?  Nothing compared to a new baby.

A breakfast must.  Lions and Tigers assisting the process.  He searches for them in the toy box before eating and positions them accordingly to accompany him while dining.

Chesteron said,
"Babies remind us to be in awe of the world.  We should never stop being in awe of babies.  Each time a baby is born, it is as if a whole new world has been created, because the world is being seen for the first time by a new soul as if it were the first day of creation; inside that little head, there is a new system of stars, new grass, new cities, a new sea.  

A literary man who cannot see that a baby is marvelous could not see that anything is marvelous.  He has certainly no earthly logical reason for regarding a movie vamp as marvelous.  The movie vamp is only what happens to the baby when it goes wrong."

 How can Kapaun see the wonder in the flame of his candle, but we don't in ours?  I am not sure how many minutes clicked by, but he stared as long as he could.  Holding a candle was new to him.  I've watched 8 children hold a candle for the first time and every time it is wonderful and filled with wanderlust. 

 There are approximately 12 leaves on our lawn, but it was determined by Damaris and Kapaun that they indeed must be raked to build a pile to jump in.  And they did.  Over and over and over.  How do you have fun in 12 leaves?  They see the beauty in the ordinary.  Our lives have become so filled with ideas greater than the ordinary that we are missing what they see so clearly.

 Every night in her bath she dumps water over and over and over.  Every night she watches it fall from the cup into the tub and repeat.  She will do it the duration of her bath.  It never gets old to her.  She is even more amazed when I pour the water and she tries to grab it.  She can't figure out why she can't grab it.  One of my favorite baby traits.  I've done it now for nine babies. 

 Hours upon hours upon hours.  The stage right before they read fluently, but are living in the literary world and the pictures are so real to them that analyzing a picture book is enough entertainment for a little 4-year-old girl to do every day...even the same book over and over.

That is what I see in each person God has given to us. A whole new person with a whole new world to explore.  This new child of ours has never seen the sky before.  This new child has never licked a lollipop.  I will watch again for the 10th time a precious 9-month-old begin to crawl and walk.  WE will teach this new child to read about the fourth year of his/her life and it will amaze us.  We will all squeal and delight at his/her first steps.  It never gets old.  It really is wonderful.  Each baby restores in me that gift of wonder at the ordinary I've gotten use to . What a beautiful design God has!

 She brings me flowers everyday.  If they are available to pick, she proudly presents.  "I love you, Mama."  See it.  Don't miss it.  See the beauty that they see.

 

 Captain Hook and Mr. Smee.  The way they dress-up so sloppily, but so passionately is a sermon in and of itself.  I have watched these phases come and go.  I see them ease into each phase and suddenly the phase ends. Dominic dressed up everyday.  I don't even remember when it stopped.  New interests take the place of the old in the minds and hearts of each child.  

What I see most clearly is the absolute honor it is to watch these children first discover the world!  The first time they open their first workbook for school.  The first time they taste ice cream.  So many things in life lose their luster, but what a wonderful honor it is to be with someone experiencing luster for the first time.


I was just so overcome with elation when I read these words this evening.  What a gift we have to see the world for the first time over and over through the gift of a new child.