Thought for the Week

Last week I was coming out of the National Museum of Rural Life at Kittochside in East Kilbride, when I realised that the heavy downpour had stopped and it had turned to a light drizzle.

Inwardly saying a quiet prayer of thanks, I made my way to the car park gingerly stepping over the water running down the slope, angry with myself for wearing sandals not shoes.

Just then a father with his young son crossed over

“Oh daddy, look! There’s a baby river” came the excited voice of the little boy. “And here’s another - and another Daddy there are lots of baby rivers!”

“Yes,” said his dad, “lots of baby rivers,” catching his son’s excitement.

That little boy cheered me up no end—no longer did I feel irritated at the streams of water flowing down the path, now I saw them with the boy’s eyes – as baby rivers!

Why is it that as we grow older, we lose that sense of wonder for the world around us, that children have and see only obstacles or disturbances to our lives?

I wonder if that was what Jesus was getting at when He said to the disciples around Him, who had asked Him: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

“Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Whatever the weather or your situation, I hope that you can enjoy seeing the world through the eyes of wonder of a child at least once during the coming week — it certainly changed me on that day last week!