Today I want to remember what it feels like to be happy…like a little child. Remember the innocent, carefree days of bliss we enjoyed as children? Our greatest concerns revolved around whether or not we had enough daylight to play. We worried when we quarreled with our brothers or sisters. We felt remorse when we were scolded for quarreling or not cleaning up our messes. We had not yet learned that the world has greater worries and concerns than could be contained in all of the volumes of all of the books. We had not yet experienced such painful things as death, heartbreak, sin, and discouragement. Our pains came from scraped knees and lunch being postponed 20 minutes. We had such perfect faith. Like a rock.
What happened to those days? I suppose there was a time when we all had to grow up. The stark reality of unfulfilled dreams, shattered hopes, and heavy hearts then came into existence. And yet, despite what we may think, we are still the same little person as we were so long ago. Our spirits have only grown up unto greater maturity and understanding. With this greater wisdom should come greater capacity to bear the trials we’ve been given, and still be happy anyway. I think this is where we get confused. We feel that because our lives are so hard and painful, we have the right to be sad and downtrodden. But melancholy wasn’t a word in our childhood vocabulary. Yes our pains were of much less intensity, but for a child, they were still traumatizing. Our capacity to bear was smaller, so the trials we faced were of the same intensity as the ones we face today. And yet we were happy anyway.
Cherie Call released her newest album, “Grace,” not too long ago. My sweetheart surprised me with her songs for my birthday. I have listened and relistened and pondered on her songs much over the last few weeks. There is a song that seems to perfectly express the sentiments I am feeling in my heart. Listen to the words of the song “Already a Butterfly:”
You wore butterfly wings and your hair was in rings
and you thought a superman cape would be the perfect thing.
So we velcroed it on in an awkward way and it crumpled up your wings.
You said, “You don’t need a cape if you’re already a butterfly.”
Butterflies fly through the sky without a care in the world.
I wish you could see as the years go by, no matter what you’re still that little girl.
Take a look at those eyes and the smile on your face.
You will color this world in your butterfly ways.
‘Cause you were never meant to be anyone else and you were truly made to fly,
And you don’t need a cape if you’re already a butterfly.
