Saturday, April 24, 2010

transparency

It's a good thing toddlers and infants don't play poker.

Um, for lots of reasons - but I'm thinking mostly about the fact that there is NO poker face whatsoever. I can virtually read the thoughts of my girls on their faces - their eyes, their lips, the crinkles in their little foreheads... adorable little open books.

Frustration, delight, fear, surprise, joy, sadness, laughter and love transport themselves directly from my daughters' hearts to their faces. Their emotions are real, they are raw, and they are available.

And as a result, those girls of mine, they are known. They are loved - they have been since I saw two blue lines, and they will be until I take my last breath and beyond - but they may will not always make themselves known to me.

How often are we truly simultaneously known and loved? How often are we gifted with the opportunity to really know and love someone else? We learn at an altogether too-young age to mask our emotions and present a version of ourselves to the world. We take advantage of chances to change that identity, that persona, as we grow - we "try on" different costumes of self.

And so, as we wade through days littered equally with temper tantrums, crocodile tears, belly laughs and sticky kisses, days where a little poker face would go a long way... I remind myself that they will soon learn to choose what I know. They will guard secrets and cover their true feelings.

So today, I praise God for their innocent transparency. It is a gift I will not toss aside.

2 thoughts:

Kaycee said...

Oh I love this! I have never thought of it that way and it is so true. I am going to do my best to remember this post, especially in the middle of the crocodile tears and tantrums. Their transparency really is a gift.

Ashleigh Baker said...

"How often are we truly simultaneously known and loved?"

Mmm... not often, I think. What beauty there is in the rare instances when it's found!