kristyn, being smart, and turning our gaze in the wrong direction...

"sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction." -- simone weil

driving back to work today after picking up kristyn, i asked her what she learned today. 'nothing', was the response. nothing? nothing, daddy. she then says, 'i think i should skip second grade.' why? 'because if i already know everything this year and i'm not learning anything, then i'm probably too smart for second grade and should just skip to third.' hmmmm...we had a chat about how you can learn something new everyday, even if we think we know it all, and how we should do our best, believe in ourselves, and be humble about it at the same time. how beautiful it is to know that my daughter is confident in who she is and her abilities; i do have to say that she is pretty sharp! Kristyn is only 6, and it's hard for her to understand pride and humility...but it's also startling to see how even at an early age it's easy to get a little full of ourselves...

i read the posted quote today, and it makes me think of kristyn's comment. sin may not always be a distance from God or moving away, but simply letting our gaze be diverted for a moment -- to ourselves, to the things that distract and attract, to the things that become mini-gods, idols, in our lives. so the encouragement for today is to work to keep our gaze fixed on the source of all the good in life, and to celebrate all we can be and are in that with the right amount of humility mixed in.