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  Wondering about the wonders of life

  Oct 28, 2024

  I’m just wondering.

  I have a theory. I think it’s true. I’m looking at my theory as he sits in his recliner. Older people revert back to their childhood. Some of them become childlike, not childish.

  The most beautiful thing about childhood is the wonder or awe of life. They see a certain magic like morning mist in the sun. They look at life through the light of their days. They are detached from the pressure, responsibility and burden of everyday life.

  When Al walks by his dog, Whiskey, he bends down, talks baby talk and pats her. This happens a hundred times a day. She gets her face washed and her hair combed every day. His actions are endearing. I’m still too busy to pay any attention to the dog. I’ve got the next chapter on my mind as I’m pushing to finish my next book.

  My youngest daughter said, “Isn’t Daddy cute? He reminds me of a little boy.”

  “Yes, he does. I remember your grandmother talking about her little Sweet Al coming in from play with pockets full of things. She gave him a bottom drawer for his junk. Many times, there were horny toads, garden snakes, always a pocket knife, bottle caps and a baseball card in his pocket that went into the bottom drawer.”

  The items have changed, but he still collects a random assortment during his daily trips around the yard and garage. Everything goes into his pocket. I look over at his dresser top and I count 15 items that should be in the garage or thrown away. Everything on top of his dresser is important to him. Screws, crooked nails, batteries, and, yes, always a pocket knife.

  His mother loved to talk about her “little Al” with a small Bible under his arm ready to go to Sunday School. Now, my daughter takes her dad to church on Sundays. I can see Al as that little boy with shiny shoes and thick, black hair combed just right, carrying his Bible under his arm.

  His attention span is waning, his patience is lacking and the television remote is challenging. Impatience is big. If he has plans for the day, he’s up at six, dressed, ready to go. Then he waits. 

  Videos of our first great grandson prove my theory. Our granddaughter sends videos and we spend hours looking at him discovering life. At 14 months, the wonder of finding himself in the full-length mirror is real. He kicks and bangs on the mirror at his newfound friend. 

  I’m wondering if Al is getting it right and we’re not. He’s guileless and innocent with a childlike faith. But, I’m not there yet. If I have to watch another Hallmark movie with Al, I’m throwing myself off a cliff.

  One thing about getting older — God is preserving our dignity. The younger people are stopping to help us, open the door, carry our groceries and help us out of the chair. They have no idea how much that speaks to older people. We don’t feel helpless, but respected.

  God says he’s bringing us back to himself to innocence. Won’t that be something? He invites us to discover the wonders of him. Paul writes in Philippians 3:7 (TPT), “… And I continually long to know the ‘wonders’ of Jesus more fully.”

  Final brushstroke: We don’t think about getting old as a perk. But as we grow up, grow older, we lose the sense of wonder. Life pushes the wonder out of us. Some, like my Sweet Al, live in the wonder of their surroundings. Life is so sweet for them.

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