Childlike

I was thinking the other day about how kids are. You know how they think that everything is a treasure? The rusty bolt they found in the dirt on the way home from school, the faded handkerchief that blew into the yard in the last wind storm, the stick that looks exactly like a light saber (if you turn you head sideways and squint.) Sometime this penchant for collecting junk drives me crazy, especially when I'm cleaning handfuls small berries out of the dryer lint screen or trying to explain why a rusty saw blade might not make the best toy. But yesterday, as I was contemplating a neighbors discarded junk mail that somehow found it's way onto our basement bookshelf, I realized that I actually envy them. Not all the junk, of course; my OCD tendencies would never let me go quite that far. No, what I envy is their ability to find beauty everywhere. The fact that in their world, everything is cool. Everything is a treasure. Nothing is worthless. It's all new, all fresh, all interesting. How cool would it be to live in a world like that again? To not be jaded or tired; to find excitement and wonder in each new day. How lovely that would be.
I think this is one of the things that I find so attractive about religion (at least most religions.) Religion is hopeful and thankful, and encourages us to treat daily life and our presence in this world as if it were a wondrous gift. I like that attitude. It helps me find a way through what is often the drudgery and tragedy that everyday life can be. It helps me find joy.