“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3). One of the consequences of getting older and gaining experience is that we stop seeing things as they really are. Even if we were to literally stop and smell the roses, it is likely that we are not looking at the actual roses themselves, the precise way that the petals fold in on each other, how the light and shadow makes this part look redder, and this part pinker, how some bug may have nibbled on one of the leaves. Probably, we just look at the rose bush and our brain flashes in our brain - rose bush - and we move on with our day. But if a child has never seen a rose before, they’re going to look at it from every angle, maybe even try to squish it between their fingers, maybe scratch their hand on the thorns. They will really see those particular roses as the thing itself, and not merely the abstracted amalgamation of memories of hundreds of roses combined together in their memory. When we are born again and become as a little child, full of wonder and curiosity and seeing the world and our place in it as if for the very first time, then we enter into the kingdom of heaven. If we plead with our Father in Heaven to fill us with His spirit and help us to become as little children, He will reveal to us the infinite beauty and majesty in even the most mundane of objects. Even though this is a fallen world and even though we all from time to time out of malice or spite or just plain inattention conspire to make it all just a little bit worse, nevertheless, God created all things, and all things reflect the beauty and the glory of God.
