Pure Innocence, Pure Love, Pure Joy

I was blessed to have four children who have produced six grand children.  The grandchildren can be a challenge, to be sure, but they bring me such joy also.  Unless there has been significant abuse, children feel no shame and are not afraid to be who they naturally are.  I enjoy young children because they are real.  They don't want or need to put on a mask or facade to be something they aren't.  It is only as they grow older that they lose their innocence and their joy.  

This loss reminds me of something I read recently.   "A researcher asked a classroom of kindergarten students, 'who in here can draw?'  All hands went up enthusiastically.  'Who can dance?'  Demonstrations of five-year-old dance talent popped up all over the room.  'Who can sing?'  Enthusiastic choruses erupted.  The researcher went to a college classroom and asked the same questions.  One or two people timidly answered yes to each question.  What happened between kindergarten and college?"  We begin to feel shame.  

Because of their "realness," their joy, I feel joy in the presence of young children.  I felt such joy recently when I was introduced to a You Tube video of a little 20-month old girl named Ella Mae (and her "daddy"), and I would invite you to watch it below.  It takes just about six minutes.  There are parts of  it that I would suggest you focus on, based upon when they occur:

• :56    Listen to who she says is singing on the stereo system in the van
• 2:29  Watch her hit her head on her car seat in time with the music
• 4:18  "Get ready" Watch her swing her arm in time with the music
• 5:34  Listen to who she wants to hear played again  

Throughout, please notice the pure love and joy she expresses for her "daddy."  You will notice that when her wee attention span goes away, she defaults to her constant, her "daddy."    Please enjoy her facial expressions and furrowed forehead, not unlike an adult imitating Elvis.

Each time I watch this video, I try to feel her love for her "daddy" and her joy in simply being.  Each time, I try to remove the mask that I may be wearing and one again experience her innocence, her love, her joy.  "Except you become as a little child...."