I'm sitting next to a precious little girl at this very moment on a plane headed for Nicaragua.
She is eating a blue cookie and keeps telling me, "I'm going to Nicaragua to see monkeys and turtles" with just the right touch of childish joy that brings me to life.
Marlee is this cute blonde headed three year old's name.
We hit it off immediately and I'm pretty sure we're best friends by now.
Marlee and I talked of what she was excited about most and she loudly proclaimed, "NICARAGUA!!!"
I started asking questions and testing the depth of her young mind and that's when I discovered it – the brilliance of innocent hearts.
"Marlee, if daddy (sitting next to her) has three apples and gives one to you, how many apples does daddy have left?" She turned with a grin and proudly said, "Two apples!"
What a smart girl, right?
We continued our conversation…
Me: "Well Marlee, do you know when your birthday is?"
Marlee: "July third, 2009!"
Me: "Wow. Do you know who to call when there's an emergency?"
Marlee: (As she shrugs her shoulders with a confused look) "No…"
Me: "That's okay, you'll get it soon enough. Here's the real test: Marlee, do you talk to strangers?"
Marlee: (with a stern shake of the head) "Nope!"
Me: (with a hearty laugh) "Hmmm… Well dad, we've got a little work to do!"
Dad and I threw our heads back and laughed it up for a good bit on that one…
Children are more precious than anything we can lay our eyes on.
They make us think and laugh.
They bring us to life and reality.
The heart of a child wakes up completely when we consider it.
These conversations were funny, but what this little three year old did was what captured my heart.
From time to time in our conversations, she would pause, turn to her daddy, and kiss him just to say, "I love you, Daddy!"
His face would light up as he once said to me, "Gosh, I love that!"
Over and over in conversation, Marlee would turn and remind her daddy that she loved him. He would return that love and she would gleam.
At one point, Marlee and I were talking about flying when I asked, "Would you ever want to fly?"
Her response: "No! Because flying in the clouds, I couldn't be with my daddy!"
Wow. They just have a way with words don't they?
She holds no conditions upon her daddy's love. And neither does he.
She trusts that He loves her, returns it, rejoices in it, and wants to be nowhere else but in that good good love.
Innocent hearts just do something to us when we consider them…
