Recently I had a very eye-opening experience. Upon first glance it doesn't seem as much, but after careful pondering, whoa. Aria and I were making our weekly Wal-Mart trip for groceries. As we walked through the parking lot, I noticed two men chatting near a car. They were the kind of men I would normally steer clear of, especially by myself and really if it had been at night. But Aria doesn't have my stereotypical, cultural fears yet and she called out in her cute, friendly little voice, "hi!" And she waved with a big smile on her face. What happened next caught me completely by surprise. BOTH men got big smiles on their faces, waved and said hi back to her. One of them even made some sort of comment to the effect of 'how cute.' I just smiled and kept walking.
While this was a fairly innocent (and common) exchange between my daughter and strangers, it really has got me thinking the past few days. It reminds me so much of Mark 10:15, "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all." As I said before, Aria has not learned stereotypes or cultural rights and wrongs, yet. But would she be better off if she never did? Sure, in some instances it is important to know "not to talk to strangers" and other safety lessons. In this instance, however, I was not willing to share God's love with a simple smile and hello (like I do with strangers as I walk through my neighborhood) because the men looked "scary" to me. But Aria was. I hope she continues to further God's kingdom with the love in her smile all of her life. I pray she will love others with all of her heart and be much better than me at seeing past differences. And I am so thankful for lessons like these that she teaches me every day! As her mom, I have plenty to teach her along the way, but in this case I'm the one with a lot to learn.
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