"Our Father is Younger Than We" or How God is Like a Child

The following is one of my very favorite quotes:

A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough… It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again,” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again,” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

• G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

I have no idea where I first came across it, I know it was years ago and, at various times since then, the line “for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we” passes through my mind. I really have no concept of time (with the exception of being on time for things, normally early), days, months, years, they don't mean much to me. Part of this is because I have a very horrible memory, so I think I live in the present more than most. Because of this poor sense of time, in some ways I feel ageless but there is another part of me that for a very long time has felt so very old. I remember the first time I read the Lord of the Rings and Legolas first ventured into Fangorn Forest and said something like “This forest is old, it almost makes me feel young again,” a part of me longed to walk there, for I wanted to feel young again, too. Perhaps it is sin that ages our souls, I can see how sin would make them feel worn out, weary, and old. Yes, souls are made of immortal stuff, but sin is the most corrupting thing in the universe and souls weren't meant to rust by it.

I also love the idea of God making “every daisy separately,” the idea that perhaps he paints each sunrise in the morning and the setting sun at night, sculpts each snail shell from the inside out. Children thrive on routine, on familiarity, on “doing it again,” but they also have a great sense of wonder, a love for the new, novel, and surprises; they have to, so many things are “firsts” each day of their life. Well, I think God is also childlike in this sense, he may paint the sky every morning and evening, but he never paints it the same way twice. He may follow a template when fashioning a snowflake, but each is a little different. He may shape each human in a basic human shape, but each of us are unique in uncountable ways. God may be all-knowing but maybe, just maybe, one reason he created us is because he hopes to be surprised. Maybe this explains “God's Hope in Man” that I talked about in a past blog post (on another blog, I'll repost it to this one sometime soon). He gives us the resources to reshape the universe and he's hoping we'll take up the spade and start digging, building, tearing down, and making new.