Quiet Habits

Having a kid has opened my eyes to the world again. It is so fun to see everything through the eyes, experiences, and reactions of our little girl. The stories she tells and her reaction to new experiences are a wonderful, amazing thing. Children have this amazing gift to see things anew over and over and to never lose their sense of wonder.

We got our first heavy snowfall of the winter recently. It snowed all day and into the night and then off and on the next day. Our daughter was awestruck every time we looked outside. She kept asking to look at the snow outside and would get so excited, exclaiming, “Daddy, look, it snow!” and “I build snowman?!” and sometimes simply “Wow!” Usually I'm a bit of a grump about the snow because it means shoveling the driveway in the cold, buying ice melt, bad drivers, and salt-covered cars. But this snowstorm was different because I caught a glimpse of the wonder and beauty of freshly fallen snow, of how the landscape changes and becomes something magical, and how a child only sees the fun and beauty of the transformed world, which goes from brown to white seemingly in an instant.

So this holiday season and hopefully for the rest of my life, I'm going to strive to see things through the lens of a child. I want to see the wonder of a huge Thanksgiving dinner set out on the table with family gathered around. I want to appreciate the twinkling Christmas lights as though for the first time, imagining they're the lights of fairies or Christmas spirits. I want to feel the excitement of hearing Santa on the roof and the wonder of presents magically appearing under the tree.

It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of adult life that we forget what it's like to be a child. But children are a gift because they remind us to be young again, to see the world as an adventure, and to find joy and beauty in the simple little things that surround us every day. And if we let that childlike spirit into our lives, we can forget about our cares for just long enough to invite that fresh vision, that free spirit, that wonder and amazement, and see the world as a child sees it: a beautiful, magical, wonderful place with endless possibilities.