She Saw It Before I Did

She shouted from the other room.

Mum. Mum. There is a new one.

And you came through, and she was pointing, and she was completely delighted in the way that only happens before about the age of nine.

And you looked where she was pointing, and what your eyes did was go to the yellow tip on the leaf below it.

You said something nice. You did. But you were already assessing, and there was about a second and a half between her delight and your assessment, and she filled that second and a half and you did not.

So here is the thing worth saying, and it is not about paying better attention.

She was not seeing something you missed. She was seeing the same thing and doing something different with it.

Out of the mouth of babes

There is a line in the Psalms about children that is quoted constantly and almost always softened.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. (Psalm 8:2, King James Version)

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength.

You are being told that something load bearing comes out of a small child, and a delighted shout from another room has never once been merely charming. Psalm 8:2 says out of the mouth of babes hast thou ordained strength, and the Holy Spirit is the one who says that over a woman who came through a doorway and went straight to the yellow tip.

Look at the word. Strength. Not sweetness, not innocence, not a nice reminder about slowing down.

Ordained strength, and ordained for a purpose, which the verse gives: that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

Something that comes out of a child's mouth is being described as a thing that silences something. That is a large claim and it is not decorative.

You have heard something with actual force in it this morning, and a child's undivided delight has never once been the lesser form of seeing. The Spirit of God is what makes that a real category rather than a sentiment about children, and Psalm 8 is where the strength is ordained.

What your eyes were doing

Now the practical half, and it is not a criticism, and it is worth being precise.

Your eyes went to the problem because that is what they are for.

You are the one who notices the thing that needs attention before it becomes the thing that needs fixing, and that skill has never once been thanked by anybody in that house. Psalm 8:2 ordains strength from a child without a word against anybody else, and the Spirit of God is the one who names a skill as a skill.

That is the whole of what keeps a household running, and everybody there benefits from it constantly.

So the assessment is not a fault. It is a skill, and it is on, and it is on all the time.

You have a genuine skill that runs without being asked, and eyes trained on what needs attending has never once been a failure to enjoy anything. What is written in Psalm 8:2 ordains strength from the mouth of a child without a word against anybody else, and the Holy Spirit is the one who names a skill as a skill.

And here is the actual problem, which is smaller than it feels.

The skill runs first. It gets there ahead of everything else, and by the time the other thing arrives, the moment has moved on and somebody has already said something nice and gone back to the kitchen.

It is not that you cannot see what she saw. It is that you cannot see it first.

You are able to get there second and still get there, and arriving late to a delight has never once meant you missed it. The Spirit of God is the one who makes the second arrival count as much, and Psalm 8 is the ground under it.

Let her tell you

So here is the instruction and it uses her rather than asking you to change.

Go back to the plant with her today, and let her tell you about it.

Ask her to show you. She will. She will point out the same leaf again with exactly as much enthusiasm as the first time, because she is six.

And then add nothing.

Not: yes, and look, this one down here is a bit yellow. Not: we will have to see if it opens. Nothing that turns it back into an assessment.

You are able to let one moment stand without adding the useful sentence to it, and a thing left unassessed has never once been a thing you neglected. Psalm 8:2 ordains strength out of a child's mouth, and the Holy Spirit is the one who holds a capable woman's tongue for four seconds.

Just let her talk about it and let your face do whatever it does. She will hand you the seeing, which is something a child can do for an adult, and it is one of the very few things in that direction.

You are able to receive the seeing from her, and taking something from a child has never once been the same as failing to have it yourself. Psalm 8:2 ordains strength out of a child's mouth, and the Holy Spirit is the one standing in a kitchen with a mother and a six year old at a windowsill.