[Innocent Eyes]

I long for the innocence of 5, it's been 12 years since I was there. And every year I grow more and more knowledgable. Every year I understand a little more of this world. Now I know why Jesus loved the little children. They were obedient, innocent... dear little Laura...

She told me that she wanted to open a flower shop and be a ballerina. She told me how you call Mr Bozwell uncle boz, or bozzy. She showed me her secret pathway to the front garden. And her indignance at her brother's bullying was one of a true human being's, just much smaller. But that doesn't mean one regards her any less. She is every mother's pride and joy. She is me, but small. She is you as well, but you are her with knowledge.

Treat her like you would treat a peer. Her independance and desire to grow up are mirrored in my motivation to achieve. Her joy and happiness are my concealed delight. Her fun is my mellowed laugh. And she knows it so well, oh so well, when you treat her like a child.

And she taught me truth.

Laura, in all her frailty of five, stood firm against her brother with a contemptous look enough to wither a tree, and articulated, " You can't sit while you stand and you can't stand while you sit."

[Matthew 16: 24-27] "Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? " For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then he will reward each according to his works."

Little Laura reminded me that one cannot be lukewarm, one cannot be fence sitting. (It gets uncomfortable after a while, one would think.) She reminded me that you can't eat your cake and have it, that this is a war and that I should be hot all the way.. on fire, really. I need to put on the armor of God and stand firm in his word! No more indecision and wavering, I must go all the way with a reckless abandon we talked about some 2 years ago at youth camp. Yeah, this little girl with her own world has let me in for a while, and God uses the blissful innocence of a child to teach much.

[tinsel crowns]