When Life Was Simpler
We took the baby to church for the first time last week because, quite frankly, we just wanted the attention.
The saints didn’t disappoint: they made a big fuss over him. However, I didn’t appreciate their exclamations of relief that the child doesn’t look like me. Often people would add such comments as: “It’s good he’ll have a chance of a normal life” or simply “We serve a merciful God.”
Another interesting comment came from a friend, who said, “Wouldn’t it be great to be a baby without a care in the wold?” Well, I had to think about that.
dressing men
A baby’s life is definitely simpler. for one thing, our boy doesn’t have to worry about what to wear. That was decided for him by the women at the baby shower. Yes, there was some competition between the faction that likes choo-choo trains on small shirts and the group advocating zoo animals.
But overall, it’s worked out pretty well. In fact, this is such a great idea that many men follow the same policy into and throughout their entire adult lives—wearing clothes brought by kindly women. They give their wives power of attorney over their wardrobe—proof that men consider clothes shopping less fun than having a tooth pulled.
Women, let me remind you that your authority over what men wear is a sacred trust. Do not abuse it. Even if you think it would be a gigglefest to send your man off to his big meeting in a sailor suit and short pants, try to restrain yourselves.
drooling
Here’s another thing babies don’t have to worry about—manners. When you’re a baby, people want you to burp. And babies get a free pass to drool. Our kid drools so much that certain parts of the house qualify for flood-relief funds, and nobody seems to care.
But the rules change completely for adults. If you saw your airline pilot with six inches of drool hanging from his bottom lip, you’d be clambering toward the nearest exit, saying, “I’m taking a bus.”
Yeah, a baby’s approach to life is the essence of simplicity. If a baby had a Filofax, the schedule would read “Sleep. Eat. Relieve internal pressure. Repeat.”
On those occasions when they leave the house, babies don’t worry about finding a clean rest room or a restaurant that serves vegetarian food. They show no concern when they’ve had a bad-hair day, nor do they trouble family members with such questions as “Does this outfit make my thighs look fat?”
grown-up blues
Once humans grow up, life becomes more complicated. We have to deal with Internet software, dessert forks and the use-by date on yoghurt. But as anyone who’s studied the system for scoring Olympic figure skating can tell you, life is complicated because we make it that way.
I think that if Jesus had wanted our lives to be complicated, He would not have suggested that we become like little children (Matthew 18:4). To quote Ellen White, the author of numerous books on religion and spirituality: “The simplicity, the self-forgetfulness, and the confiding love of a little child are the attributes that Heaven values. These are the characteristics of real greatness.”
So, I’m trying to simplify my life. By the way, if some of you missed my baby shower back in 1958, I could use some new shirts.
Reprinted, with permission, from Women of Spirit.
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