Out of the Mouths of Babes....

I ate lunch today with my daughter, Isabel. We were both eating leftovers. I told her it was time to go eat and she ran all excited to her chair like a squirrel does to a bird feeder. When she arrived at the chair she shouted, “Oh, thank you, chair!” Now, you have to imagine a toddler saying this with the elongated “O’s.” Both the words “Oh” and “you” were dragged out a little more than usual. It was absolutely hilarious. It got me to thinking about all the things she says “thank you” to each day or even “hi” to as she passes. Just yesterday I heard her say, “Oh, thank you, tree” and “Oh, thank you, bird.” We just bought some new indoor tropical plants that she calls trees. We also have been doing a lot of bird watching in the front of our house. So, to say “thank you” to these elements of our home environment was to suggest Isabel’s clear awareness of her surroundings.

As Isabel thanked her chair this morning, I was intrigued at the theological implications of such a proclamation. Could it be that we pass by each encounter of our day without even acknowledging the true gift of its presence in our world? Do we truly pass by trees, birds, roads, fields of corn, water, plants, chairs, dare I say human beings, without a sense of thankfulness? Buddhist monk, Thich Naht Hahn, often speaks of the world in terms of “inter-being.” That is, the being of all things is interconnected so much that human actions and the natural order are directly impacted by the results of our interaction or lack thereof. Perhaps my little toddler was trying to simply point out the “inter-being” of chair, tree, bird, daddy, mommy, God, and all of creation. Perhaps every time I turn on a faucet of water, there could be a prayer of thankfulness for our water. Or, every time I take a bite of food, I am thankful and aware of the origins of my food. It could even enter our human relationships to the point that when we are particularly angry with another, we might begin to see ourselves in that person and give thanks for their beautiful existence.

It is often out of the mouths of our little ones that we hear clearly the messages we daily miss because we are so distracted from our present reality. A child sees the simple usefulness of a chair, or the beauty of a tree, and the dazzling dance of the birds. I miss seeing these things so clearly. So, today, I have something to say back to my little girl: “Oh, Thank You, Isabel!” and “Oh, Thank you, God, for my little darling Isabel!”