Sometimes we just need to stop and stare.
This summer at camp, I was a counselor for 13 precious (most of the time) 8-year-olds. During the middle of the session, I had been assigned to take these girls to Sequoyah Caverns, some caves in the hills of Lookout Mountain. It was there that the Lord taught me a good lesson.
Coming off the nauseating and sweaty bus ride to the caverns, I confess that I wasn't in the peppiest of moods. But my girls were excited, so I tried to maintain an attitude similar to theirs.
As we entered the caverns, the temperature soon dropped 40 degrees. That dry, cool environment was so refreshing, and it lifted my mood a little. It's funny how a change of environment can affect my mood. But I soon forgot about how comforted I was by the dropped temperature... there were other things to think of. It was another counselor and I in charge, and that was it. So, as soon as we got into that cave, my "mommy mode" came on, my eyes were constantly dashing from girl to girl to make sure they weren't touching something they weren't supposed to be touching, my mind was constantly counting them up, my own thoughts drowning out our guide's words so that I could keep looking out for the kids. Maybe it was because of this preoccupation, or maybe it was because of my past experience splunking, but I was not too impressed with these caverns. My mind was constantly busy thinking of my girls, but at the same time, I was bored.
And then, for just a moment, I stopped paying attention to the girls' actions and the group count, and I started paying attention to them. They were freaking out. They were so amazed by this cave, constantly shouting "WOAH" and "Sarah look at this!", pointing, looking up, looking all around, with their jaws dropped. Their eyes were wide and their little hearts were overcome with the grandness of this cave, the beauty it had to offer them, the adventure that it provided.
And at the moment also, the Lord taught me so much. He used these girls as an instrument to show me how important it is to maintain a childlike spirit. We may be somewhere at a point where we feel weak and tired, and the Lord may offer us a refreshing alternative. We take what he's given us and appreciate it for a split second, but then we go back to worrying. We are more occupied with other things, when sometimes the Lord just wants us to stop and look up. He wants us to see Him with childlike eyes. He wants us to say "Woah". He wants us to show others what we've discovered. He wants us to see how big He is. He wants our hearts to be overcome with his beauty. He wants us to go on an adventure with him.
As we go about our busy bustling lives, I am thankful to be reminded that sometimes my God just wants me to look up with a childlike spirit. As we grow older, we become less and less amazed with things around us. Things that used to be phenomena when we were children are now just run-of-the-mill. I think it wouldn't be a bad idea for us to just stop focusing on the little things and remember our purpose. Here Jesus is, giving us an opportunity to glorify him and enjoy him forever. Wait, why do the other things matter again?
