Susan Watkins -- Beautiful Repetition

(Topic of Choice #4)

When I read Chesterton's essay for this class, one of the ideas that leapt out at me immediately was his point of view on God and time. Chesterton argued that perhaps God did not allow repetition in time and space out of boredom or lack of creativity, but rather that His perspective is so perfect that a beautiful thing is just as beautiful with each new moment as it was when it was first created. I don't think that we as humans can really even begin to comprehend this, because the very nature of our brains requires that we filter out so much information brought to us by our senses. In order to focus we have to dull down our surroundings until they are "commonplace" and run the risk of becoming "boring." Thus it is that we are amazed with a new object or person for a limited amount of time until we get used to it or him, and then we lose interest and seek something new. We can't imagine repetition being anything but boring-- but Chesterton takes us back to the time of childhood, when we were perhaps not quite so jaded, and the smallest novelty could keep us entertained for hours without becoming boring. A child will kick its legs, Chesterton says, until it wears itself out because merely to kick is a joy beyond words.



How amazing! I have been noticing this in children around me ever since then, and their endless hunger to repeat those things which they find fun. When I was in middle school, I would play with the little kids who lived next door to my house and it used to drive me nuts how they would always want to play the exact same games over and over and over and over and over again! Now, though, I really get it-- and I am fascinated to watch children engage in these activities and find such a limitless, fresh joy in them. I desire that joy, that wonder.



What's neat is that while I maintain that we as humans will always tend towards boredom and indifference, we do have the power to develop our skills of perception and wonder in order to resist the trend. Sometimes I get restless with the day-to-day regiment of school and classes. Sometimes I even get tired of my group of friends, some of the people dearest in the world to me. Sometimes, I get sick and tired of the thing I love most in my life right now-- my ministry with Young Life. It's just natural for us to grow tired, jaded, convinced that there is nothing new we can find and that we have sapped every last bit of joy out of a situation.



How desperately wrong we are!



When I have a period of time like that, where I am falling into boredom and apathy, sometimes I go outside and just sit for a while. I try to quiet my thoughts and stop "filtering" so much and take in all the amazing things around me-- to regain a sense of wonder about the world around me and all the things I'm blessed with . I find that this is a great way to regain perspective and to rediscover joy in the things that had become boring. When I really take time to do this, my life just gets a jumpstart and I find joy again. I think this is a way of drawing near to God, and becoming more like Him in seeing beauty all around us.