Life Through my Childhood Eyes


Just take five minutes and walk down this path with me.  This represents my childhood in Oaxaca, Mexico.   At age twelve, my family had a large tent for sleeping quarters, and a constricted space made of wooden planks for a kitchen which was attached to a tar paper shack.  To one side of our home, the slope of a large hill which fed into the mountains of the Sierra Madre.  To the other side, a small creek which served as our water supply.  Was my childhood happy?  Unbelievably so - because of my remarkable mother and highly intelligent father.  What they offered, cannot be duplicated nor can it be purchased. I grew up in poverty, but rich because of this thing which I simply call, "life".  This life - spent primarily outdoors from ages 12-16.  This life, within a social laboratory of humanity and history gave me the most wonderful belief that to live in Oaxaca meant that God must really, really love me. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB6idmltUQg

We thrived in what is still one of the poorest states in Mexico. There was no telephone, nor did we own a television.  But we had books!  We had homeschooling in the morning. Afternoons and evenings were allotted for trips to the open air markets and hikes up into the mountains to collect orchids. Our parents allowed us tremendous freedom because they understood it was God's greatest gift.  And weekend trips to villages tucked into the mountains?  We ate squatted on the dirt floors of some of the most destitute individuals in Mexico. And we ate everything which was offered to us from the loving hands of our hostess.  There is much generosity of spirit in the culture. I am indebted to these people for a childhood spent in their presence.  They taught me so much. 

Walk the path with me for five minutes.  My life was shaped by simple dirt paths. And when the rains fell, the slippery red clay found along the mountains of Oaxaca always reminded us of our vulnerable human frame.  As children, we would lay bets as to who would take a tumble first.

It was the simplest of things experienced in childhood which have allowed me to form complex opinions about our world and the better world which I wish for all of us: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindu... and those of no faith.

Reflect today - on what simple paths in your own life have brought you into adulthood today.  It is good... to remember. smile

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