Through the Eyes of the Healed Child...

There is something interesting that happens as we move through life.

The world does not become less magical. It becomes more familiar.

We learn the names of things. We learn their classifications, categories, and explanations. We learn which bird is which, what type of cloud hangs overhead, and why the sunset paints the sky in shades of gold and crimson.

Knowledge is a beautiful thing. It helps us navigate the world and communicate with one another.

Yet in our effort to understand the world, we sometimes lose our capacity to stand in awe of it.

I do not need to know the name of a beautiful bird to know it is beautiful.

I do not need to know the classification of a cloud to stand in awe as golden shafts of sunlight pour through it like rivers of light from another world.

I do not need to know every scientific explanation behind a sunset to feel something stir within me as day surrenders to evening.

Some experiences ask to be understood.

Others ask simply to be witnessed.

Science tells us that our eyes perceive only a tiny fraction of the light that exists around us. Our ears hear only a narrow band of the frequencies moving through the air. At any given moment, we are immersed in a universe far larger than our senses can detect. Less than a fraction of one percent.

Perhaps that is not a limitation.

Perhaps it is an invitation.

An invitation to remember that there is always more than we experience through our senses.

More than we hear.

More than we understand.

As children, we knew this instinctively.

We listened to the wind as though it carried secrets.

We watched butterflies as though they were miracles.

We stared at the moon without feeling the need to explain it.

We experienced life before we learned to label it.

What if, just for a day, we returned to that way of seeing? Seeing with the eyes of a child. Even Christ said, the children will lead the way.

"Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3)

What if we walked outside and looked at everything with new eyes?

What if we listened to familiar songs as though we had never heard them before?

What if we searched for sounds that usually disappear into the background?

The distant bark of a dog.

The rustling of leaves.

The hum of electricity.

The rhythm of our own breathing.

The subtle notes hidden beneath the obvious melody.

Life is full of frequencies we stop hearing, not because they disappear, but because we stop paying attention.

The same may be true of beauty.

The same may be true of gratitude.

The same may be true of wonder.

Maybe the goal is not to know more names.

Perhaps the goal is to experience more moments.

To pause long enough to truly see what is in front of us.

To hear what has always been there.

To rediscover the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary.

Because the universe has never required us to understand everything in order to be amazed by it.

Maybe it is enough to stand beneath a sky streaked with gold, watch a bird cross the horizon, hear the whisper of the wind through the trees, and remember that life is still capable of surprising us.

Not everything beautiful needs a label.

Some things are meant to be experienced.

And perhaps wonder begins the moment we stop asking, "What is it?" and start asking...

"Isn't it magnificent?"

Blessings, Love & Light...