Seeing Through a Child’s Eyes
In the letter to the Colossians, we have specific instructions for living together in a family.
Wives, be subject to your husbands,
as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives
and do not be embittered against them.
Children, be obedient to your parents in all things,
for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, do not exasperate your children,
so that they will not lose heart.
Colossians 3:18-21
Though the instruction is directed to fathers, I am confident that God does not want us mothers to exasperate our children either. I believe that one way not to exasperate our children is to stop and see things through their eyes.
I remember being in our little kitchen in Oxford, Mississippi, not very long after our son, John, was born, when I realized that I needed always to treat this precious little child the same way I should treat everyone else—as I wanted them to treat me.
“In everything, therefore, treat people
the same way you want them to treat you,
for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7:12
Don’t we all want others to care enough to try to learn and understand our perspective, to see through our eyes?
I recently came across an illustration for a poem in The Book of the Little Past by Josephine Preston Peabody. This book of poems was published by the Houghton Mifflin Company in 1910. Each poem depicts the experiences of childhood from the perspective of children themselves. The illustrations are by American illustrator Elizabeth Shippen Green Elliott, who painted the originals in oil.
I plan to share some of Peabody’s poems and Elliott’s illustrations from time to time in September. I will start with the first one that I came across, The Journey. The illustrator’s signature reads Elizabeth Shippen Green because she completed it before her marriage to architecture professor Huger Elliott in 1911.
The Journey
And blue, the way the pictures are;
And flowers, flowers growing thick,
But not a one for me to pick!
The land was running from the train,
All blurry through the window-pane.
And then it all looked flat and still,
When up there jumped a little hill!
I saw the windows and the spires,
And sparrows sitting on the wires;
And fences, running up and down;
And then we cut straight through a town.
I saw a Valley, like a cup;
And ponds that twinkled, and dried up.
And there were trees,—and then there weren’t!
We crossed the bridges with a roar,
Then hummed, the way we went before.
And tunnels made it dark and light
Like open-work of day and night.
Until I saw the chimneys rise,
And lights and lights and lights, like eyes.
And when they took me through the door,
I heard it all begin to roar.—
I thought—as far as I could see—
That everybody wanted me!
In the letter to the church in Philippi, Paul reminds the Christians of the encouragement in Christ, the consolation of love, fellowship in the Spirit, and affection and compassion, telling them to:
. . . make my joy complete by being of the same mind,
maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,
but with humility of mind regard one another
as more important than yourselves;
do not merely look out for your own personal interests,
but also for the interests of others.
Philippians 2:2-4
We’d love to see you there. Be sure to purchase your tickets ahead of time.
