Friday Story

Perfect for Christmas!

A child’s delight

Parenting for Wonder

I was once again walking through the same bridge in 97th street below which the LI railroad runs. This time there was a father and a little girl watching the train tracks.

There was a train running away and the little girl screamed in delight.

“Woohoo!” said the father, participating in that magic. “It’s so magical!”

I smiled, myself delighted in the train lights. The fall sun was setting and the train lights shone with a golden magic.

But I was also smiling at the delight of that little girl.

And what made my smile go from ear to ear was that the father was receiving the gift of that delight and nurturing it in his little girl.

Oh! Life is magical.

I knew this since I was a little girl watching the energy fields in people, delighting in the wonder of the world. I used to seat in awe as the milk transformed into oatmeal. That’s alchemy… though my mother did not seem to find as fascinating as I did.

As I grew up I also stopped seeing the magic.  I had to reclaim it later on.

This father was nurturing the wonder of his child, and that made me grin with happiness.

A high, ear-piercing shriek filled the air. I stopped and looked back.

A train was approaching. Its two fiery eyes looked like a dragon. Its many green lights seemed like a magical serpent.

“Woohoo!” the father celebrated. “It’s coming, the train is coming!”

And he laughed with delight at his little girl’s delight.

Children bring the gift of wonder into the life of their parents.

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Yet I see so many parents that rush about doing their duty and dismiss the magic of those moments.

In so doing, they dim the wonder of the child and deprive themselves of the gift their children bring into their life; a gift that revitalizes them and reawakens the magic in their life.

Einstein said:

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.’

This father was a wise man, a loving father. He received the gift of wonder from his little girl and in doing so gave himself and her a magical gift: the gift of living life in awareness and awe of its miracles.

The End

I give you this story today, which took place in the same spot as the one several Fridays ago. They are both stories about children and parents. Both in the same place, weeks from each other. And yet, so different!

Choose how you will parent your children: in grace or in strive. You will both benefit or suffer from that choice.

Light and love,

Maria Mar

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