A Lesson in Calebisms

Caleb is my second oldest nephew.

He is 5 years old.

He helps me think about a lot of things.

Last March he was visiting St. George with his family, riding in the car with his Aunt Meg and his cousins. This kid is hilarious! He says something funny every 4 minutes, on average. Well this day they are driving around and he stops and says, "I think... I know EVERYTHING." Hahahahahah seriously! This kid cracks me up! Instantly his cousins start testing him: "Really? What's 40 times 5000? What's 20 plus infinity?" Really comical situation if you know all of these boys personalities. When Meg told me the story I cried for about ten minutes straight. I can just picture his contemplative little eyes and his pretty confident voice. Our family repeats that statement quite often. But I started thinking about it.

And I was thinking about how wonderful it is that children have such confidence! They have self esteem and they feel valuable! They beam and they shine because of their incredible inward beauty. They are boosted up by compliment after compliment about how well they colored or how fast they ran to the end of the sidewalk. They rejoice in seemingly small victories, such as getting dressed the fastest or jumping off a step. Adults aren't like that. Even teenagers, still so close to those childhood years aren't like that. How sad is that! Why is that so? My opinion is that as we grow up we listen to the voices of the world. We compare ourselves and we are in a way punished for thinking we are great! We start growing up and we start losing that simple confidence of childhood.

Caleb's words have been a challenge to me as they have echoed through my mind the past few months. A challenge to be as confident as that little ball of energy. To return to the mindset of youth. Because seriously, what has changed? I am still the exact same person I was when I too had that confidence and self esteem. Yes I have changed, obviously, but the point is has my VALUE changed? Nooooo. I have learned to compare myself to others, so the world would have me think that I am less than I should be. Truth is, I am still the being that I was before I learned to compare and contrast. I hope I continue to realize that. I'm glad for the innocence of children and sad for the world that beats that out of us by the time we're ten.

Thanks Mister Judd :) Taught me a valuable lesson.