Reach for the Moon

If there’s one thing I could go back into my childhood and regain it’s my innocent faith and outlook on the world. Over the years one matures into an adult, this point of view inevitably gets replaced with memories of disappointment, victimization, prejudice, or harsh realities of a sinful world. This is why God keeps children handy, to give a balance to a tainted point of view.

I’ve been brought to sweet, mommy-realization tears in recent days as I watch a certain Little Man  build up as much excitement as his two-year-old body can contain when the end of the day has arrived. He has come to learn that once bath time is approaching, the moon has awakened for the night. He then asks earnestly, “See moom?”

It’s pretty much impossible to turn down an adorable request like that, so out we all go to find that pale beacon in the night’s sky. The other night was especially poignant when Little Man pushed his way out the door, ran with all the speed he could muster, and reached up urgently with all the strength he could muster to “Chatch Moom.”

Wouldn’t you know it, he just couldn’t seem to reach that elusive moon on his own, so he turned to Daddy. Perhaps with Daddy’s help he could catch the moon. Daddy quickly and deftly swooped Little Man into his arms and threw him up in the air. With the most precious smile and look of hope in his eyes, Little Man threw his hands up into the air and grabbed with all of His strength.

Instead of showing disappointment when he didn’t actually touch the moon, as I feared, he appeared even more exhilarated. My jaded adult mind couldn’t comprehend it at first, but then God began to show me why. It was not that my son needed to actually touch the moon to feel satisfied, he just needed to know it was okay to try. What I would have viewed a failure, he viewed as a fun adventure with a different, more exciting outcome. Being given the opportunity to commune with his father, to be caught by his strong, sure hands, was far more precious to him than his original dream to catch the moon. In fact, since the moon was not caught, it can still be something we can reach for.

This mommy who struggles with feeling average and unable to do anything of significance has once again been humbled by my child. If he can accept that reaching for the moon is worthwhile, why shouldn’t I? If he can find contentment in discovering a different kind of success than he originally pictured, then I can learn to do the same.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a moon to catch.O LORD, our Lord,
         How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
         Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
  Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
         You have ordained strength,
         Because of Your enemies,
         That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
         The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
         And the son of man that You visit him?
 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
         And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

~Psalm 8:1-5