There is something special about the joy of a child. Sociologist Peter Berger talks about a child’s play as a hint or signpost of something spiritual, something outside the natural world. I was lucky enough to participate in this sign of the supernatural yesterday. On the first day of my Christmas Wish trip, I took City Sandino kids out to buy gifts and then swimming at the hotel pool. The pure joy in getting the gifts and playing in the pool was palpable and flooded the moment. Berger says that children lose their sense of time in play. I can remember playing as a child, lost in these moments of eternity when the outside world faded away. Only to suddenly be jarred back into this world by the voice of my mother calling me home. The world is a harsh place that does not spare children from unimaginable suffering. Things that would outrage us are daily occurrences for children around the world. There is no spiritual answer for such suffering. In this life, the believer and non-believer alike can only find solace in these precious moments of joy that eventually fade. The only difference is the non-believer sees death as the end, and the believer has hope (another Berger signpost) in another world where things will be made right, and joy will not fade. For a brief moment yesterday, I saw that world in the children’s faces of joy.
