Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne

I love this author! I love this book!  There is so much here and yet one can easily miss it.  It is a simple story told from 4 differing perspectives about taking a trip to the same park.  The words tell part of the story, the fonts tell part of the story, the characters tell part of the story, THE ILLUSTRATIONS are the story!  Those who have "outgrown" pictures (or who think they are too good for pictures) will be lost and will miss the strength of the message. One of my favorite things about the book are the things to which each character is blind.  This book definitely is a wonderful display of what I read in Matthew 6:22-23:

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"

 "But the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." -1Samuel 16:7

Dax (almost 9) saw a stack of books and knew I had been to the library.  He just finished Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Lightening Thief and needed something for his 20 minutes of reading for homework. He asked me which I suggested. Upon first reading it alone, he rated it as "not my favorite."  He never once took notice of the pictures and read it strictly as he would a chapter book only he didn't even pick up the change in fonts.  Later while David had taken Cole to a birthday party and K was sleeping, I asked if he'd like to read it together; he conceded because he will take any snuggle time we get when the others are away.  As we read and discussed the pics, he became animated in the hunt for clues in the illustrations and began to interpret some things similarly to my earlier interpretations and some differently.  I realized that we too had different angles on the book much like the characters had different angles on the park; perspectives and opinions can be synonomous.  In that moment, my heart yearned to have my Father's angle on people and things.  I have been drawn to truth for much of my life both practically and Absolutely; begging Him at times to let me see reality and not my own perception.  But with Dax reading this book at this juncture I long for His Angle / His Opinion, to see the proverbial "park" not exactly as the "park" is but as He sees it!

This was momentary. Two days later and after this morning of getting the boys up and off to school, I confess I did not see them the way He does this morning.  I hope and pray for more moments and maybe just maybe moment by moment I will give to Him and become more like Him!