We went to a friend's 90th birthday gathering yesterday. It was an interesting gathering because of the age spread. We had a large group of people over 70, one man in his 40's, and a six-year old.
The fun part was the conversation with the six-year old. One of our participants kept asking the six-year old questions about her life. It reminded me that one of the most amazing things about youth is the sense of curiosity, wonder, and awe.
For a six-year old, everything is new. So much of what a child sees and experiences is occurring for the very first time and they experience it in different ways.
My father instilled in each of us a huge sense of curiosity. This starts for all of us as the natural curiosity of youth; then most people lose this curiosity. They face the world trying to stay in comfort and avoid the change process.
Yet this six-year old was facing a steep learning curve about everything. One of my favorite things to do during the years was to talk to the little ones from about 3 to 6 years old about life and their world view. I am blessed when I spend time with little ones to be able to play well with them. I can remember during my first marriage visiting one of her friends who had a five-year old son. We were playing in his room when he suddenly left. He came back with his mother and my wife. They were laughing because the five-year old had gone to the living room to get them to come and turn on the lights in the bedroom. He forgot I was an adult and thought both of us were too short to reach the light switch.
I at one point had four step kids. This meant now and then I would be babysitting a group of little ones. One day my wife and her friends were on an errand and left me watching over three little five-year old girls.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself as we sat at the dining room table and I asked them questions about the world in which they lived. They shared very unique views of what went on around them.
At one point, the three of them shared their visions of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy. The girls stated that all three of these people met together once a year at a conference. During the conference, they would share their experiences about giving out treats and they worked with good little boys and girls. This was done in a total sense of serious concentration. It was truth for these little girls.
This takes us to the huge tie-in between curiosity and our view of the universe. Albert Einstein said there is really only one true question for each of us. The question is "Is the universe a friendly place?" Curiosity gets stilted and short-changed if the universe around us is seeking to destroy us.
But if we are of the belief that the universe is there to work with us and support us everything changes. It means we are continually seeing the works, quirks, and strange patterns of life in this human journey as we walk our spiritual experience.
A healthy curiosity keeps us looking forward to the next amazing fact about the world. It means we have just around the corner the most unbelievable event/situation/issue we have ever experienced. It is the continual adventure that is life! This means no matter the condition of our vehicle it's going to be "another day in paradise."
I got that phrase while working for a big construction company on a 65 million dollar project. We had a set of young engineers who greeted each other every morning. The one would say, "Good morning. It's another day in paradise!" Then the other one would reply, "We are living the good life!" Join us in the garden of life!
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