The Curiosity of a Child

Yesterday my 4year old put soap on her sister's toothbrush and poked the buttons out of her toy laptop with a key.  This same child decided to rip pages out of a book the day before because she wanted to "make coupons" with them.  She's curious about everything!  When she was 18 months old I found her with a jar of vaseline, which, normally at that age would have gone straight into a child's mouth.  Not Tressa.  She was trying to figure out how to put the lid back on in just the right way.  She was taking it off and putting it on.  She must have sat there for half an hour, content to experiment with how it worked - not even realizing the greasy mess she could have made with the stuff inside.  (That happened a few days later!)

Recently she just decided she likes cheese on her peanut butter and jelly sandwich and she had to try Ranch dressing in her rice.  She just has to experiment and try everything.  To say the least, she's a challenge for me because I take things as they are, but she will always be pushing the limits to see what can be changed and why it works the way it does.

I'm sure that as she grows her interests will change and hopefully she'll be able to channel her curiosity and experiment in a positive way.  Sometimes I am at my wits end and don't know what to say to her and sometimes I'm inspired to say something, but there's no evidence that she understands or receives the message.  The thing is, I know that she will have to learn to leave other people's things alone, or people won't like her or will be intimidated by her.  And I know that she really means no harm, but other's may not understand that about her.  I will always love her, but the world may not be so kind.  She will always have to weigh her choices with the consequences and decide if her curiosity is worth the result.

I believe our Father in heaven feels the same about us.  He knows us and understands why we do what we do, but others make harsh judgement on us.  He talks to us constantly about our choices and tries to send messages our way, but I'm sure He's disappointed when there seems to be no evidence that we understand or even receive the message.