A HOPEFUL HEART â—½ YOU
The World in His Hands
By Christina Oberon
This month, my son turns seven.
It’s hard to believe how quickly time is passing. One moment, I was rocking him to sleep on my chest, and now I’m looking back at a photo of him sitting on a bench in a bookstore,
captivated by a wall of maps and open books. I snapped a photo that day. He had his little stuffed animal tucked beside him, and his back was turned to me, completely focused on the pages in front of him.
Watching him, I saw more than just wanderlust. I saw hope. I saw a child who believes the world is open, full of goodness, and waiting to be explored. And in that moment, I silently prayed that he would always keep that kind of hope alive, no matter where life takes him.
Isn’t it beautiful how children look at the world? They don’t see limitations the way we adults often do. They don’t count the costs or tally the risks first. That’s what childhood does so effortlessly; it believes. It imagines without hesitation. It sees the world as wide and beautiful and full of possibility. My son doesn’t worry about passports or plane tickets. He just dreams, and he does it with joy. His curiosity challenges me. His questions help me to slow down and see the world again through a different lens.
Children ask, “What’s out there?” “What if?” “Why not?” It reminds me of the kind of faith Jesus praised. A faith that believes, that trusts, that dreams. God has a way of planting dreams in us for a reason. Even if they seem far off, He sees the whole journey when we only see the starting point. There’s comfort in knowing we don’t have to chart the whole route, we just have to start walking in faith. Maps tell us where things are. Books tell us what they mean. But faith tells us we can go, even if we’re not sure how. Jesus tells us to have childlike faith. Faith that asks. Faith that seeks. Faith that believes even when it doesn’t know exactly where the road will lead. Hebrews 11:8 says, “By faith Abraham… obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” That’s the kind of faith I want to nurture in my son. And honestly, in myself.
Sometimes I think about the maps we keep tucked in our own hearts. The dreams we once held. The places we wanted to go, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually too. Somewhere along the way, we may have let those dreams fade. We got detoured by heartbreak, delayed by disappointment, or just too busy with the demands of daily life. But…
if a little boy can sit in a bookstore and believe the world is open and full of wonder,
maybe we can believe again too.
I don’t know what parts of the world my son will explore. But I do know he’ll get somewhere wonderful. Because his heart is open, his spirit is brave, and God delights in leading children like him, and like us, into beautiful, unexpected places.