Healthy habits lost in childhood...

I've been reading various posts about how parents are trying to hurry their children along in their eating. At the same time, I'm listening to the harping about the obesity problems in America. Growing up, I remember the studies that showed that those who were skinny tended to eat more slowly. One of my friends was one of those skinny people, and she ate very slowly. I envied her ability to enjoy her food and stop when she was full. I never knew when I'd have food stolen off my plate, so I wolfed. And that leads into a whole other matter I do not want to delve into right this minute.

Do you remember when you had a 15-minute recess in the morning, a 40-minute lunch, and another 15-minute recess in the afternoon? I do. I did a lot of running around. I discovered I was inept at social games like kickball, basketball, volleyball, tetherball, jump rope... Yep, pretty much anything that required any coordination beyond running, and I was hopeless. Then running became a problem as well. I turned to dancing, not in a class, but school and church dances. I loved it. Then I tore all the ligaments in my ankle before I was 19 years old. And what a nightmare that started.

Be that as it may, when I was in elementary school, I used to run around outside with my friends. No one thought about kidnappings, not that it didn't happen. It simply wasn't a worry. Not going into the problems with child molesters, something else that no one talked about. I listen to people talk about the good old days, and think "where did you grow up? In a cave?" The awful things still happened, but the general belief was that as long as no one said anything, then everyone could pretend like everything was fine. There were just enough people who hadn't lived in a nightmare, to make those who did feel like anomalies. A sense that was reinforced by abusers to hide their perfidy.

Those alarm bells that went off in your head, regarding things that didn't seem right, were silenced by those who professed to know best, either out of misguidedness or malicious intent to deceive and lull into a false sense of safety. Curiosity is also squelched -- don't ask so many questions! -- encouraging one to believe whatever was said, again either a misguided demand or one with an ulterior motive.

When Jesus entreats us to become as little children it is not for us to become childish. A child will believe a truth or a lie if it is told by someone they trust. Instead, He is asking for us to trust in the truth He teaches, unwaveringly. He wants us to explore and ask questions. He wants us to throw our whole selves into joy. I'm working on it.