Do you remember the first four or five years of your life? It is strange how so many do not have a hold on these critically important early years. We only come to know of them through pictures and stories of our elders.
Yet I feel lucky because unlike most who hardly have a trace, I can vividly picture the place and so many memories of my primary years. I could describe in detail our old house in Bulacan where I was born and spent my fond pre school years. That old house of my grandparents is still there until today. Though I could hardly picture their faces, I can never forget the names of my two playmates, they are only two as there were only two houses in our compound then.
For most of us, perhaps, those nascent years are not for us to remember. Perhaps we feel that those subconscious years of our utter vulnerability and dependence are really for our parents.
Scenes of my childhood just flashed my mind after attending mass last Sunday, the Feast of the Sto. Niño (Child Jesus) which is celebrated by the Catholic church in the Philippines. "Unless you change and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven", was the message for the entire Christendom.
A child depicts innocence, obedience, frailty and purity. He is reminding us to return to the ways of a child - weak and humbly seeking His strength.
Of course this is not to condemn grown ups, who are given the choice to be as young and refreshed as children who get excited over chocolates and story telling.
It is true that you cannot enter heaven using your senior citizen's discount card but you can receive heaven as a child. This is to go slow enough to pray with thankfulness and hope, to enter the kingdom as a child is to age with grace, become forgetful enough to hold only the memories that truly matter.
Life has a lot of grace and surprises, about never knowing what's coming to you, about growing to be who you are and learning about things that last and things that must die
Have you become like a little child? When do you plan to become one?
Wow Jean ang dami na pala ng entries mo. Mahirap mag catch-up. Ako hanggang "Dear Diary" lang.
ReplyDeleteredbolts...thanks for patiently reading my posts. alam mo...the number of posts i make depends on my current state, which means the more posts i have, the more bored i am...writing is my way of killing boredom! maybe this will be until i finally find someone who will kill boredom for me! hahaha....
ReplyDelete