Sermons (Page 152)

Some developmental psychologists suggest that children first learn through tactile sensation – they discover hot and cold, soft and hard, up and down first through their physical senses. Then as they create an intellectual vocabulary they move past tactile sensations into the exploration of signs and symbols. As children being to understand signs and symbols they learn to see beyond the surface. It is then that they can come to discern the genuine from the artificial…

It’s a summer afternoon on the playground. Two children, about 2 years old, are in the sandbox sitting next to each other. Each one has a shovel and a bucket. One child begins digging deep into the sand with the shovel, while the other bangs on the bucket with the shovel. Noticing what the drumming child is doing, the other child starts banging on the sand and sand goes flying in the air. These two children continue noticing one another and modifying behaviors, but are generally engaging in their own play. This type of play is what we would label parallel play…

We’ve all done it. We all have checked ourselves in the mirror. Before a big day at work or a night on the town, we adjust our clothing, check our hair, and make sure everything matches. “How do I look?” we wonder. Sometimes we look damn good; and other times we just hope to pass. We hope our client is captivated by our personality enough to overlook the massive pimple. We pray that our bad hair day doesn’t turn into a bad date. We hope that the black clothing really does make us look a bit slimmer. Mirrors have this way of reflecting back to us reality. They can be unforgiving, and sometimes they enlarge or distort reality, but generally they’re reflecting back to us a glimpse of the world…