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Being a Dad has been excellent! Even through the screaming and sleepless nights, it’s easy to root myself in the joy and blessings of new life. From the very moment I felt her first kick from the womb, to the moment I got to hold her for the first time, my daughter has had a tremendous impact on my life. Each instance I look into her eyes, it’s as if a sliver of blindness is wiped away from my mind. She is without a doubt, another amazing influence that the Father is using to help me see more clearly.
What do I mean by that? Let me frame it this way: being an “adult” and constantly tackling day to day responsibilities, hurdles, adversities, rejection, suffering, pain, even death—hardens each and every one of us. We lose sight of the beauty, value, awe, and privilege of our existence. We naturally and unintentionally trade curiosity and newness of life for experience and pride. Many times, this causes us to be hardened to many aspects of our reality and our eyesight becomes quite foggy. We no longer have 20/20 vision to perceive life the way we were intended to experience it. Our cloudy vision causes us to focus mainly on our trials and tribulations with only a bite-sized portion of what the Father intended for us: true Shalom and awestruck wonder that IS our existence.
When was the last time you afforded yourself time to ponder your existence? Between the day to day responsibilities and our man-made technological distractions, one is hard-pressed to appreciate a sunrise, let alone each and every sunset. The only sunrises many of us enjoy, are the ones that catch us by surprise. This is not how life was intended. We were created to appreciate the garden, smell the flowers, and baste in the gravity of even existing in the first place.
I see both our Father and our Messiah moving to restore this perspective and teach us to balance our experiences and understandings with the recognition and appreciation of what IS the awe and wonder of our Creation. These days, among other things, the Father is using my newborn to soften me and help me grow. It’s only been weeks, and the impact has been astounding. I hope to capture and share a glimpse of how Adonai uses these experiences to restore my sight. This series, Through the Eyes of a Child, will be rooted in Messiah’s profound lesson in Matthew 18. We must all strive to fully understand the depth of this lesson and apply it in our lives. Our eternal future is at stake.
Before we move forward into the first of this series, let the enormity of Yeshua’s words sink in. Read this verse a few times, chew on it, consider it, contemplate your first impressions, and be ready to widen your perspective as the Father uses this verse to shape you on multiple levels.
As one should before approaching each portion of Scripture, ask the Most High to move the Ruach Kodesh (The Holy Spirit) to give you full meaning and understanding:
Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:3 ESV
The underlying question that we must answer: How do we become like children? This series will encourage you to contemplate and wrestle to find this vital answer. The fruit of this search has endless bounty.
Existence – The Wonder of First Sight
I had the utmost privilege of holding Lavender right after she was born. It wasn’t long after, that I participated in an even greater moment: watching her experience first sight.
It took a lot to get to this amazing point in her life—especially for mom. Not only did the 9 months of carrying her in the womb require patience, but the birthing process seemed just as long and grueling.
5:30AM on my birthday morning, I was awakened to my wife’s excited yet curious voice, “Sean?? I think my water just broke…” She tells everyone: “I never saw Sean get out of bed so quickly!!” I’d have to agree, because the next thing I remember is having turkey bacon and eggs on the skillet—a high protein breakfast to help mom prepare for the task ahead.
Even though I was ready and "in-action", anticipating the debut of my baby girl, my wife’s contractions had yet to begin. Little did I know, that would be the start of a long birthing experience. After we got to the Birth Center and the midwives went straight to work. It was remarkable how they all operated together and adapted to every situation. Each stage of the birth had its tribulations, but we finally made it to “transition.” Pushing shortly followed but lasted a lot longer than we anticipated. We tried all different types of birthing positions and methods to get things moving faster, but time was running out—we were close to being transferred to the hospital. Thankfully, through the grace and perfect timing of YHVH and the wisdom He gave our midwives, Lavender Miah Esposito was born at 1:48AM in that very room!
A tear was not spared, let me tell you! The relief I felt for my wife and the joy I felt to welcome my daughter took over the room. It was a priceless moment to say the least. The midwives placed our sweet baby girl on my wife’s chest and the bonding hasn’t stopped since.
My incredible wife deserved every moment she had with our daughter and I gladly waited for my turn to hold our beautiful little girl. As she was carefully passed into my arms, it hit me. This precious baby girl was just ousted into existence. I had a newborn in my very hands. Her first oxygen coupled with her first scents entering her nostrils. Sounds she’s never experienced. But most powerful of all? New sight! She was seeing for the first time, perceiving her existence through new eyes. And I had the pleasure of experiencing this with her!!
I’ll never forget it… as I held sweet little Lavender, she could barely keep her eyes open. It seemed as though she was waking up from a dream. Blinking; coming to her senses. When she opened her eyes fully, taking a look directly at me, I saw it! She was realizing that she existed! No matter how clear her eyesight or what exactly she saw, she was undoubtedly awestruck. Her mouth open wide, eyes centered and focused, and directly gazing up at me, she was undoubtedly in deep thought about her existence. Utter amazement was written all over her face.
"What is all this?!"
We’ve all experienced it, we just can’t remember. Like I said, we’ve been hardened. New experiences turning into recognition and routine. Newness of life has fleeted us in more ways than one. We can’t remember the moment when we realized that we are.
But, we have the pleasure of catching a glimpse of it when we see an amazing meadow, a valley eclipsed with snow-capped mountains, or when we stop and appreciate a cardinal prancing in our dew-covered backyard. And when we take the time to look hard enough, we can see it in the eyes of children.
We need to regain our appreciation for our existence. We need to be awestruck once again. When we relocate the wonder of life, look past our experience and brush off the hardened feelings of routine, we have the opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary gift of existing.
The first part of becoming a child is returning to deep appreciation and awe for our personal existence. When we meditate on such an amazing gift, we can move to appreciate the wonder of the existence created around us. The complexity. The beauty. The endless variety and diversity. The smells, sounds, tastes, sights. And the community we get to share it with.
Now, after we take the time to realign our sight and appreciate our existence, we have the eyes to see the gravity of Genesis 1. Go ahead, read it again.
Our Creator made all these things—the sun, moon, stars, oceans, lakes, streams, mountains, flowers, vegetables, fruit, herbs, birds, fish, cats, dogs, etc. … He made them all for you.
Not only are you gifted to exist, but you were given everything around you for your experience and enjoyment. Designed and tailored as precious existence that can be defined and enjoyed in endless ways.
Only someone striving to be like a child can truly appreciate this. "Adults" are too busy surviving and providing for themselves and their children. Too much responsibility to appreciate life—that’s what weekends are for, right? That is why we must be like a child before the Most High. Because when we become like a child, relocating the wonder and appreciating of BEING, then we can look up at our Father and be in awe of His provision. Then we are equipped to put all our trust in Him for our safety, necessities, pleasures, and all things in between. Not only are we then equipped to better appreciate our morning cup of coffee, but we are in a better position to realize that we are and always will be but children before our awesome Creator. And, just as our children, be so thankful and appreciative that we can look up to Him for all things.
Childhood is freedom.
Think about it...
Have you contemplated your existence?
Have you relocated your wonder and appreciation for the world around us?
Have you been given eyes to see the awesomeness of our Creator?
His perfect design is all around us. Take the time today to stop and consider this. Better yet, get on your knees, look up to the Father, and ask him to make you a child once again—His child. We must be reborn.
Sean is a former Atheist who was finally awoken to the reality of our Creator—which lead him to the one place he thought he would never step foot: “Bible College.” During his studies, our Heavenly Father flipped his Christian worldview upside down in order to reveal the Whole truth of His perfect Word. As a follower of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus), Sean encourages believers to deepen their faith, seek the truth, test everything, and be willing to walk in the true image they were created: the image of the Most High and His flawless Son.