Discovery

by Desi Ash 

Have you ever discovered newborn baby bunnies in the wild? Or lived to tell tales of eating wild berries? Or mastered the art of peeing outside? Those are all lessons I discovered during the summers of my childhood. My brothers and I would spend countless hours in the woods behind our house.

One summer we discovered a nest of baby bunnies; recently born that they barely had any hair on them. In amazement of our discovery, my brother Martin picked one up and we trekked back to show mom and dad. Let’s just say that they didn’t enjoy our discovery as much as we did. We sadly then learned that we probably killed the bunnies because the mom would pick up our scent. (To this day I believe we killed them all).

My older brother was a boy scout and would use this fact to convince Martin and me that the berries growing in the woods weren’t poisonous. He would spend days saying the boy scout manual says it’s okay or that he already ate one and is fine so we should to, all tactics that older brothers are good at. Eventually we would give in, only to find out that they tasted gross and that he himself never ate one. Luckily, we never crossed any poisonous ones.

Being a girl I quickly learned that if I wanted to keep up with my brothers and get the most out of our time in the woods then I was going to have to master peeing outside. My brothers did it all the time no problem, but each time I had to go, I would run back home, and then have to try and find them when I got back. So I decided peeing outside was a skill I needed to have. Well, it’s not as easy for a girl to pee outside as it is a guy (something I didn’t realize as a kid). The first few times I tried I peed all over myself and was super embarrassed.  Over time I discovered the right way to stand and was a pro at peeing outside.

As a kid discovering the world of the woods was what we wanted to do. We hated when mom would add “and stay out of the woods” to our daily rules. What I didn’t know was that discovering was a second nature because God wired me that way. I love that my parents let me spend countless hours in the woods.

Genesis 1 tells us God created us in His image and in His likeness. We as adults need to help kids discover what that means. We can do that by entering their world and letting them trust us. The more we walk beside kids the more they will see in themselves how they are a masterpiece of God’s.   As you walk through the different phases with the kids in your life the more they will see how you discover and deal with the world and the more their future relationships will model what you show them.

How are you as parents provoking discovery within your kids? How are you provoking discovery in your life? As you add discovery into your life and the life of your kids be prepared to see God come alive in new and wonderful ways.