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There is this young boy who comes to the house to keep my mother company while we are away. He is the son of a family friend, about 9 or 10 years old, or thereabouts.

One day, I went home and my mother told me she had asked him to do something, but he was so glued to the television that after repeating herself almost three times, she quietly went and did the thing herself.

She wondered what was so intriguing about the cartoon he was watching that nothing else mattered. It was as though he had been tucked into the television.

I laughed.

And then I remembered...

Once upon a time, I used to be glued to the television like that.

I used to be the first to run to the parlour to watch Tom and Jerry at the first beep of NEPA light. I was always ready to "stab" my siblings for the remote. I would use my last-born privileges to cry whenever they beat me to it.

Oh, how I used to fight to watch television!

Now, it has been over two years and even though every day I walk past the television in the sitting room, it is as though it isn't even there. The one in my sister's room is even worse. I barely notice it when I visit her.

Watching television now, to me, is stress.

"I just don't have the time," I tell myself.

But once upon a time, it wasn't so.

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Gorgeous,

Before everything happened...

Before life turned out this way...

Before you became so put together...

You were a child.

You didn't know much. You weren't particularly organised. You didn't have everything figured out.

You simply lived. Freely. Innocently. And the smallest things could make you incredibly happy and excited.

Where did all that wonder go?

When did your eyes stop widening and your lips stop saying, "Wow"? Where did the giggles go? Where did your excitement about life and the little things disappear to?

You're an adult now, and life is hitting you hard, so you don't get easily impressed anymore.

You're an adult now, so you're so put together and have no time to slack.

You're an adult now, so little things don't seem to matter anymore.

You're an adult now, with money problems, responsibilities and a thousand things demanding your attention.

You're merely existing and competing your way through each day.

Gorgeous...

There are a thousand and one reasons why God has such a soft spot for children.

There are a thousand and one reasons why He wants to be your Abba.

So where did your wonder go?

Where did your soft heart go?

Where did those childlike characteristics disappear to?

Please...

Don't let life harden you.

Fall in love with the little things once again.

Let tiny things excite you.

Don't be so put together all the time.

Sometimes, marvel at the beauty of a leaf.

Look at the way a stone is beautifully crafted.

Laugh without worrying about how you look.

Forgive easily.

Love more.

Hug more.

Be fascinated by things that don't necessarily have a practical purpose. Because sometimes, that's what little children do.

I know you're an adult.

I know life requires you to be responsible.

But please...

Remember that you are still Abba's child.

And perhaps, somewhere underneath all the responsibilities, disappointments, bills, deadlines and battles...

That little child is still there.

Maybe she just needs permission to come out and play again.

I love you,

Abigail, Abba'sgirl.🪅

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P.S.

Tell the children around you that it is okay to be children for a little while longer.

Nobody should be in a hurry to grow up.

Time is already doing that for us.

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