childlike

tonight i found myself sitting by pere in the hallway watching a stream of people pass through the school to see a new exhibition by a japanese artist. pere is one of the youngest seventy year old people i know. he dyes his beard orange. he dances. he sings. he is always eating out of a bowl. he tries to liberate people. i mentioned to him tonight that i am having trouble illustrating. i tend to copy. i want it to look realistic. he said that if i could return to my childhood i would find the whole creative process a little less fustrating. you see, he reminded me, kids don't worry about what is right or wrong in art. they just create. they don't worry about getting messy...they have fun. he said that we too often become the critical and worried adults that unfortunately cannot create like we once could as children. it sounded a lot to me like when Jesus said that to understand the kingdom of God we had to become like children. their spirits are untouched. their eyes are clear. their hearts are playful. i want to recapture some of that as i create and as i approach God. i think that children have so much to teach us. by the way, happy 2nd jonas. you teach me something everytime we play. i love you.