The Funny Thing About Kids

I just think kids are the neatest. I'm obsessed with kids, and though I know of several who do NOT share my sentiments in the slightest, and if I could spend all day with them I would.

Babysitting has always been one of my favorite things to do, as far as making money. It was my first "real job" at the age of 13, and I never really stopped doing it. There are so many interesting things that go into it, and no kid or family or house is ever the same.

But you knew that.

They're so cool, though. One of my favorite kids is named Emma. She's 7 going on about 25. She's brilliant and I love it. But she's still a kid, ya know? Obviously, she's in elementary school, but she's at an age where she has a VERY defined personality, and it never ceases to blow me away. I've spent so much time with her that I hardly feel like the babysitter any more. I feel more like her sister or something. I even adore her parents.

What has recently struck me, though, is that kids at the age of like 4 or 5 to about 8 or 9 can be pretty skeptical about new people. When they first meet you, they're super shy and awkward because they don't know you and they're trying to do 2 things: they want to see how interactive you get with them, and they want to test you to see how much they can get away with. It's a simple fact of life.

So sometimes they won't talk. And even though they have to get used to you, you have to get used to them. But man once you do, they have some of the funniest things to say, and some of the most interesting insights you'll ever hear. Because they have a very limited filter and have only just begun to develop social skills.

This girl can talk my ear off about "highly intellectual" things (which in all honesty I have no clue about sometimes), and then go straight from that to being incredibly silly and laughing her head off, and then to being sweet as she can be, all the way back to running around being crazy again!

Tonight I got the chance to babysit two kids whose parents I'd never met before, but they were in my Campus Minister's small group, so I figured they'd be nice, and of course they were. Their kids were 3 years old and I think 11 months or so. THEY WERE PRECIOUS. I was with them for a short amount of time, but I got play with trains with the 3-year-old boy who could talk forever if I'd let him. He seemed pretty emotionally stable for a child, although that was probably just the day. And then the little girl - good grief she was all over the place! In the cutest way possible, all she wanted to do was CRAWL and never stop! She was so smiley and kept clapping which was adorable. She did have a tendency to get into everything, though, and when she got in it she would put whatever it was in her mouth. Including my hair. And necklace. And glasses. BUT SHE WAS SO CUTE (and I didn't have to change her diaper, which is always a plus). No tears, no injuries, no tantrums, no dirty diapers - I am a happy babysitter!

One of my favorite things about watching kids is that everything they do is unexpected. You have to be on your toes, and HIGHLY caffeinated (which I was, luckily). It's the one area in my life where I'm not lazy (because I CAN'T be!). Every age of kid is something different, and it's so much fun for me to figure out those different stages of life, meet them there, and roll with it. In the last week I've interacted with crawling babies, semi-talking toddlers, significantly more worded toddlers, elementary school kids, and middle schoolers (not to mention those crazy college kids). It's a blast. I almost feel as though I should rethink my career path... Alas, I do still want to teach middle school math.

I just think kids are hilarious. They require a lot of attention and energy, but we have SO much to learn from them.

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Reading Between the Lines

I think that title is clever.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot recently about people. I've always liked to psychoanalyze people (including myself) because I like to be able to know what's going on with them. I like figuring things out - this includes people, naturally. I've always been pretty good at noticing things about people, like when they're hiding something. More specifically when they're hiding their emotions. I'm decent at reading people. It's a fun game for me!

Of course on the other hand, I've been psychoanalyzing myself since I was about 14. A lot goes through my head at once, and since I forget to write things down, I just keep thinking more and more until, well, I've thunk myself in a circle.

With all of this, I was thinking about the beauty of people - God's greatest creation. Don't believe me? Read up on Genesis for yourself, and then try and tell me that God didn't value His creation of us over all the other things! He did save the best for last, because we were the ones made in His image - made for an intimate relationship with Him. People are beautiful.

I came across an article and video from Dove about beauty today. And how we're really hard on ourselves, whereas others tend to see the best in us when it's solely based on our appearance. Perception plays a huge part in what we define as beauty.

Here's the thing: yeah I've had moments of self-consciousness, but I've never truly struggled with having a negative body image. Like most girls, I do have my days, but in the end I never let those very temporary feelings of physical inadequacy drive my decisions or actions.

I love knowing that everything beautiful has the potential to reflect God's beauty. This, again, depends on perception I think. I can look at a really pretty landscape painting, and marvel at how beautifully it captures the vastness and mystery of God's creation, whereas another viewer may simply look at it with no regard to our Creator. From my point of view, everything beautiful brings God glory. Every human IS beautiful, and has the potential to bring God glory. Which is so, so cool!

Anyway, I was looking at someone's face on Facebook today (I know, weird right?!) and it was someone I didn't know - a friend-of-a-friend. She made a comment to another friend of mine who has her 40th birthday this week (or what I like to call her second 20th birthday). She said, "I would love to be 40 again... You should stretch it out! It's a GOOD decade!" Which I thought was interesting. Then I went to her page to see what she looked like (because I'm easily side-tracked). I would assume she's in her late 50's/60's. And I was looking at this picture of her, and I mean yeah certain facial and other physical features tend to give away our ages, but I saw another picture of her...

In this picture, I looked at it and had a pretty easy time telling her age (ish). But what really struck me were her eyes. They honestly looked as though they hadn't aged since she was 18. I covered up the rest of her face with my hand on the screen, and what I saw were beautiful eyes that looked as energetic and alive as I'm sure they've ever been - as if by looking into her very being, she were still young at heart.

This sounds pretty cliche, but I think it's cool. We can really be so critical, especially when we use our stage of life as an excuse as to why we look a certain way. But if we learn how to read between the lines - the wrinkles, the dark circles, the gray, the weight - I think that's when we can accept that our true beauty does in fact come from within, and when we embrace that and let it, it shines through to our outsides as well.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm fascinated with all stages of life. They're all beautiful! So stop coming up with excuses as to why you don't measure up, and quit comparing yourself to others who just happen to have different insecurities than you! You are fearfully and wonderfully made, from the inside out, by an Almighty God who loves you more than you will EVER be able to grasp or know.

"So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” 

Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened. 

Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day."

Genesis 1:27-31

Here's My Heart, Lord

This weekend I had the opportunity to travel "home" to chaperone a Disciple NOW youth retreat at my church, and also get the chance to lead worship through music with the band. It never fails that a message meant for middle/high schoolers hits home with me more than anything. I always go in expecting to teach, but come out learning more than I thought was possible. This weekend we reflected on what it meant to Pause and rest in Christ. That rest is not mindless activities in front of our many screens, but that true REST was an active participation in a real and growing relationship with Christ, cultivated by persistence and consistence in prayer, reading and applying Scripture, and being in community and outreach with other believers.

I feel myself breaking. I'm weak. But I boast in my weakness because I know that in my weakness HE IS stronger. I am humbled and unworthy. I need God's never-ending grace.

This song was our anthem.

Here's My Heart Lord - David Crowder, Passion 2013

Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Speak what is true.

'Cause I am found. I am Yours.
I am loved. I'm made pure.
I have life. I can breathe.
I am healed. I am free.

Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Speak what is true.

'Cause You are strong. You are sure.
You are life. You endure.
You are good, always true.
You are light breaking through.

Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Speak what is true.

You are more than enough.
You are here. You are love.
You are hope. You are grace.
You're all I have. You're everything.

Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Speak what is true.
Speak what is true.
Speak what is true.

Life's Good

I'm going to write soon. Really this time. Not that anyone really cares. Haha. But it'll happen. Stay tuned!

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has set eternity on their hearts except that no one can know what God does from beginning to end."
Ecclesiastes 3:11

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