Hi there!
Let's face it, adults are on their way out! If it wasn't for children, we would get nothing done. But I digress, what I want to talk about here is the value of the experience of a baby. There is some confusion about the significance of a baby and like self-righteous people, self-defining people tend to characterise babies as if they have to "earn" their significance by getting older. This couldn't be further from the truth.
A baby's experience of life is actually "hyper-real" - that is, it is 'realer' than the experience of reality we have as adults. Studies have shown that memories can be passed down from one generation to the next, that couldn't be the case if one generation's experience didn't "change". Well so if a generation's experience changes, there must be a scale over which those experiences can be plotted - some experiences will be greater than others.
The Bible talks about God "knowing us while we were still in our Mother's womb" (exact verse unknown); God could not do that, if there was very little to know. The reality is that there is a lot to know.
The letters of the Bible talk about "greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world" this too is an example of greatness within the baby - greater is the experience in the baby, than the experience that is in the child or adult.
Jesus said "there are many first that will be last and last that will be first" I think babies and their experience is a great example of that. We should not be so complacent as to think "a baby's experience can't matter"!
Every child is different! One child substituted for another, is not a 1:1 exchange! Their experiences and imagination will always vary.
I hope this has been of some encouragement.
God bless.
PS. What is a hyper-real experience of reality? It is like first waking up inside the Matrix; everything has power and significance - colors are pure, temperatures vary all over the place. There is a change of character as these experiences die off, but at the time, there is nothing like it. Later when we think of the character we developed as a child, we can be tempted to forget how real it was, that is, at least, until we are reminded "no eye has seen nor has it entered in to the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him"
Let's face it, adults are on their way out! If it wasn't for children, we would get nothing done. But I digress, what I want to talk about here is the value of the experience of a baby. There is some confusion about the significance of a baby and like self-righteous people, self-defining people tend to characterise babies as if they have to "earn" their significance by getting older. This couldn't be further from the truth.
A baby's experience of life is actually "hyper-real" - that is, it is 'realer' than the experience of reality we have as adults. Studies have shown that memories can be passed down from one generation to the next, that couldn't be the case if one generation's experience didn't "change". Well so if a generation's experience changes, there must be a scale over which those experiences can be plotted - some experiences will be greater than others.
The Bible talks about God "knowing us while we were still in our Mother's womb" (exact verse unknown); God could not do that, if there was very little to know. The reality is that there is a lot to know.
The letters of the Bible talk about "greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world" this too is an example of greatness within the baby - greater is the experience in the baby, than the experience that is in the child or adult.
Jesus said "there are many first that will be last and last that will be first" I think babies and their experience is a great example of that. We should not be so complacent as to think "a baby's experience can't matter"!
Every child is different! One child substituted for another, is not a 1:1 exchange! Their experiences and imagination will always vary.
I hope this has been of some encouragement.
God bless.
PS. What is a hyper-real experience of reality? It is like first waking up inside the Matrix; everything has power and significance - colors are pure, temperatures vary all over the place. There is a change of character as these experiences die off, but at the time, there is nothing like it. Later when we think of the character we developed as a child, we can be tempted to forget how real it was, that is, at least, until we are reminded "no eye has seen nor has it entered in to the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him"
