The Beauty of Childhood

My not quite two-year old great-niece is visiting her grandparents this week. Because they live a good distance away, I don't get a chance to see her very often, so quite honestly, I wasn't sure how receptive she would be to her Uncle Steve.

I was pleasantly surprised that not long after we were in the same room, she held out her arms to come to me ~ with no coaxing from me, at all! Then I was quickly reminded that I was the closest person to her sippy cup of chocolate milk! So much for that shot of grown-up confidence.

After church, several friends and family members made the trek to our local McDonald's for ice cream. Obviously the little one was the center of attention. Cameras were constantly pointed in her direction. She noticed a camera pointed at her, stopped what she was doing and, without prompting at all, yelled, "Cheese!"

My wife and I have two daughters of our own. One is about to graduate from High School. My wife and I reflected this evening at McDonald's about how we can remember various things that our daughters did at that age, but it is so hard to remember life with them that small.

Its really a weird feeling. There's almost a glaze of memory of them being toddlers. I know I changed my share of diapers, put them in and out of car seats, remember them crying and laughing, bottle-feeding ~ the works. But to look at a picture of them individually as babies, its hard to tell which one is which. If my life were to depend on my remembering specifics about our lives when they were toddlers, go ahead and shoot me now.

The beauty of childhood is found in them growing up. The past 17 1/2 years of parenting have certainly had its ups and downs. As I reflect on those years, now with my eldest about to graduate from high school, God has been gracious. As I think about the love for Christ that my daughters exhibit, I'm thankful. It isn't uncommon to knock on the bedroom door of one of my daughters, and when I walk in, find them reading God's Word. Wow.

Was parenting my daughters all peachy? Do I want to re-live any of it? No, and no. There were heart-wrenching decisions that had to be made that I do not want to make again. There were times I had to say, "No." I didn't always enjoy that. But my daughters are becoming young ladies, and I'm proud of them. Both of them.

The beauty of childhood is being able to share the importance and opportunity of enjoying a relationship with Christ. As young children, I had the priviledge of pointing my children to that relationship and leading them to an appreciation of Him. I had the opportunity of being their pastor for 10 years, and baptized each of them.

Where did the time go? I suppose it's flowed under many bridges. I'm just thankful that we got an early start on the finer things of life. Not money and fame, but the quality time of sharing and pointing them to Jesus. And that little neice of mine? She's well on her way to the same type of childhood / adolescence. Gotta love the beauty of childhood!