childlike innocence

Sunset Mall sits right across Loop 306 from our bedroom window, so I took the kids there last week. A cute little mall, it is. Our goal was to window-shop. The kids aren't great shoppers because I'm not a shopper myself, but they did fairly well. Stopping at the coin-operated riding toy sections of the mall every now and then helped. I am thankful that Carly and Isaac love these toys even without quarters. In fact, I'm not sure they even know that the cars and trucks GO when you put quarters in them.

In one particular cowboy store, I was checking out some trinkets on a display. Carly watched a family pass closely by. One particular man was in a wheelchair, his leg chopped off at the knee and bandaged up. Carly is a quiet, thoughtful girl, but she seems to be more vocal lately for some reason. At least she was on this day. "What happened to that guy's leg?!?" she asked loudly for all to hear. The silence and shock that followed was purely deafening as I processed the thought, Did Carly just say what I think she said?! Keeping my head low, not wanting to look up, I tried to answer while I felt the family's stares poke me all over. "I don't know, Carly." I tried to sink into the floor as I made wide-eyed eye contact with who seemed to be the man's brother. Because of the silence and lack of something better to say in this awkward situation, I kept talking to try to correct the situation and fill the empty silent space...which never helps. "God just wanted him to be that way. He makes us all different." Since the family was only 3 feet away from us, we ended up talking with the man and his family about the accident, where he got crushed on an oil rig just a year ago.

Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3-4). Carly's naïveté in asking this question made me catch a glimpse of the kind of child Jesus is talking about here.