Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: CHILDHOOD (03/09/17)
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TITLE: Kindergarten of the Soul | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marlene Bonney
03/14/17 -
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Climbing on Jesus’ lap for rescue as a portrait depicts or memorizing Scripture when spiritual things are explained, a child is ripe for accepting Him as their Savior, mesmerized by Bible stories and miracles recorded in His Word. Like handprint impressions made in cement, these, learned as a youngster, will remain in a child’s memory even into adulthood.
Wrapped in a cocooned layer of protection, the season of growing into God’s masterpiece has begun. A child sees God’s fingerprints everywhere, from the forest trees rising up to reach the sky like determined hikers to the tiny ants crawling busily underfoot. From the arcing rainbow to the wave-laden sea; from the velvet touch of a silky bunny’s ears to the cool summer breeze playing tag with his/her hair. Colors are brighter, images are larger, smells are poignant, hugs more spontaneous. Right and wrong are starkly black and white before the world mashes them into muted hues, like running dye on colored Easter eggs.
God made it all so simple and uncomplicated, this child’s map stretching in a straight line from START to FINISH. When did it all run away? When does a child stop playing freeze tag—fox & geese in an untouched yard of snow—stretching out on the blizzard’s snowfall to make a snow angel? When does the trust get trampled on until wariness in the goodness of people is established? When does the charm of a job well done or a grade diligently and honestly earned become an indifferent accomplishment? When does Sunday School earn the badge of disdain, beneath the dignity of peer pressure? When does Santa Claus—the Easter bunny—the tooth fairy—imaginary friends—get the ax? When does it become blasé to gape up in wonder at the Northern Lights, to wake up on Christmas morning with excitement, to hug or kiss a parent good-night?
When does a child grow up and become an adult, “putting away childish things?”
All the while a child’s maturity and physical growth is being challenged by his environment and peers, and is forming independent thought opinions that are threatened by reality that is peppered with disappointments along with the salt of joys. Eventually, a child accepts the inevitable, burying dreams in the sands of time, occasionally yearning to be Peter Pan to escape the responsibilities of adulthood.
If a grownup child is fortunate enough to have children and grandchildren, reliving childhood through their eyes is a healthy process, even if getting down on the floor to play with them is a creaky, painful exercise of willpower. Cultivating relationships that will evolve into precious memories, imaginations grow for both as they proceed down the road of shared experiences and past excursions traveled. Hopefully, these will be treasures buried in my heart to retrieve as I face the challenges of senility or a dementia that takes me back to my own childhood.
As a senior adult, there are two things I cannot resist; no—three: A baby’s smile--pure, welcoming and gleeful; a child’s imagination that commands me to enter a whimsical world; and God’s rainbow painted along the horizon under a sunlit, rainy sky so I can become a child again, running to the windows or out the door to see it and remember His eternal promises.
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