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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Chine McDonald, director of Theos - the religion and society think tank

Good morning,

It’s such a privilege to get to see the world through the eyes of my four-year-old. The world for him is one big adventure, full of questions that need to be answered: what does that sign mean, mummy? How do you spell ‘koala’, mummy? What day is it today, mummy? The other day, on hearing the word ‘excitement’ on the television, he asked me what it meant. I tried to find the simplest way to express the word and settled on saying that feeling when you’re having fun.

The dictionary definition describes a feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness. I realised that these are perfect descriptions to describe my little boy. And it also dawned on me that as an adult, I don’t often have those moments of delight in the world around me. The news headlines are overwhelming, the money worries and health concerns and ever-expanding to-do lists, squeeze out the sense of wonder that is so plain to see on my son’s face. I read recently that one of the key signs in the spiral of exhaustion is when we start to cut out leisure time, time to relax and to play – just like children.

In the New Testament, Jesus tells his disciples to become like children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. There’s something profound here. Adulthood is preoccupied with all those things that take our attention away from beauty and awe in God. Perhaps there’s something we can all learn from child-like excitement. I hope that I can take the time out to play more, to find wonder and awe through my little boy’s eyes. God of wonder, help us today to find pockets of excitement and awe that draw us closer to you. In Jesus’s name.

Amen.