It was a magic moment that stopped everything. Graduation services are notorious for family and friends being quite pushy to get just the right picture. After all their child or sibling invested thousands of dollars and four or more years of their life to get that piece of paper. The usual was happening when a very nicely dressed five-year-old little boy came forward with a disposable camera. Ever so politely he went to the front to take his picture. He was so precious; the entire ceremony came to a halt allowing him to accomplish his task. People posed for him and he never realized anything unusual had occurred.
There is something wonderful about the innocence of a small child in our jaded world. Unfortunately television and other media make it difficult for us to shelter our children and keep them that way. Even if we carefully monitor and select programming for our little ones the commercials and promos that are interjected midst a good program expose our little ones to things they do not need to see. The local news often is the worst as they talk about all the slime that happened that day. While it is almost frightening to see a naïve teen it is sad to see a post-toddler who seems to know everything about life.
While our native curiosity drives us to learn, the truth is there are things we don’t need to or shouldn’t know. Eve certainly didn’t need to know what she learned at that tree. She learned about pain, betrayal, suffering and death when she disobeyed. It is no wonder it was called the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. How grand it would have been if it had just been the Tree of Knowledge of Good.
Written by Roger Bothwell on January 13, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org