Chuck E. Cheese and the Spiritual Life

It was Uncle Mike to the rescue.  Last Monday, my sister Maureen had an appointment in Cranston, which is very close to where I live in Providence.  She asked if I could watch the girls for a couple of hours during that time.  Of course, I was happy to do so.  I’m blessed to have three beautiful nieces (Stephanie, 9, Nicole, 8, and Olivia, 6…going on 16), and a handsome nephew (Kevin, 11), and I love spending time with all of them.  This day, I would have the joy and challenge of babysitting for Nicole and Olivia.

What should I do? Admittedly, I didn’t have much of a plan.  When I arrived I said, “So, how about we go to the kids section at Borders.”  They agreed, not with a whole lot of enthusiasm.  Once we arrived, we headed to the children’s section and I could tell that we’d be there for about six minutes–six-and-a-half minutes if I was lucky.  I thought to myself, “Oh boy, how am I going to drag this out without them getting bored.”  Then I had an epiphany: Toys R Us is close by! I had them choose one book each and we headed to the checkout line.

When we got back into the car they asked,  “Where are we going now?”  “It’s a surprise,” I said.  The next several minutes were filled with child-like anticipation.  As I approached the stop light they saw the Toys R Us sign, and the car filled with girlish, gleeful screaming.  “You’re the best uncle in the world!”  Score!  I knew that we’d be able to spend a good amount of time walking around the store, and I told them I’d buy them one toy each–provided it wasn’t too expensive.  As we left Toys R Us, Olivia excitedly proclaimed, “This is the best day of my life” (okay…so she was a bit excited and a little over-exagerating).  I couldn’t help but smile.

Next stop: Chuck E. Cheese.  I’d passed it as we were heading to Toys R Us and thought it would be one more fun place to go.  Since then, every parent that I’ve spoken to has given me the same response: “You’re crazy.  I hate that place.”  But what did I know; I’m just the priest-uncle.  I’d never been to Chuck E. Cheese–and hopefully will never go back–but the girls had a blast.  I loved watching them bounce around from game to game.  They even climbed through the plastic tunnel which hangs suspended from the ceiling.

Two hours and $40 later we headed back to meet their mother, and I sent them home spoiled and tired.

Jesus said, “Unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”  Spending those two hours with my nieces reminded me of the importance of being childlike.  They didn’t have a care in the world.  They just trusted that I would provide for them, that I would take care of them.  I saw them filled with wonder, anticipation, playfulness, and joy.  And for a couple of hours, I was taken out of my sometimes-selfish world to be taught that I can take life too seriously.  Jesus doesn’t call us to be childish, but He does invite us to be childlike.  Being childlike means living in simple trust, knowing that God will take care of us.  It means being able to enjoy the simple things in life.  It means having a sense of wonder, and even playfulness.  It means being able to laugh with others and at ourselves.

We can learn a lot about the spiritual life from little children if we are humble enough to let them teach us.  But I would suggest that you don’t have to go to Chuck E. Cheese to learn these lessons.

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How do you try to be childlike in your faith?
What spiritual lessons have you learned from little children?

P.S. I’m not sure why WordPress decided to change my blog appearance, but I’m going to work on getting a new template.

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