My two year-old-daughter Elise is potty training. When she uses the "potty" successfully, Andrea and I clap for her to encourage her to keep doing the same thing because... well... we're tired of changing diapers.

The other day I had just finished using the "potty" myself, and as I flushed the toilet, I could hear a tiny set of hands on the other side of the bathroom door clapping, and a little voice that yelled, "Yay Daddy! You did it!"

(I guess Elise thinks we're all potty training). 

There's something very spiritual going on here. There's rejoicing in the heart of a kid over the the things we grown-ups treat with contempt. Things that you and I think of as "daily maintenance" are celebrated by children. 

I think this is what Jesus meant when he said "to change and become like little children." The word "become" is an interesting word choice. It is a word of process. It's organic. It means that change isn't instant. It takes time and effort.

In our lives, are we "becoming?" If so, what are we "becoming?" More "adult?" More bored and impatient with the looping doldrums of the world, or are we looking for newness and beauty in the "daily maintenance?"

It's up to us. There is cause for rejoicing all around us, but we have to humble ourselves to see it. 

Almighty God, arrest us with the beauty of everyday life.

Amen.