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- If I had to hazard a guess about what Jesus was getting at about becoming like children, I think children teach us the basics of being a human being. Children want you to bear witness, to behold, to see them. The requests you get over and over again are, “Look at me!” and “Watch this.” and “Come here and see this.” Most of what you do in being with children is beholding them. Seeing. Watching. Bearing witness.
- Which requires two things. Presence and attention. You have to be there, and you have to have your eyes open.
- For what we want most from each other is presence and attention. That’s the basic language of love. But we so rarely offer each other this gift. Mostly because we are all, at various times, sullen, oppositional, demanding, and boring. So we look away. And we lose track of each other.
And eventually, we discover that we’ve left each other all alone, and that love is in short supply.
- Attention is the economy of love.