Eyes of Innocence

I had the opportunity to teach some new ideas to some children today.  As I stood and shared my insight and understanding with them, I couldn't help but look down into their faces, all looking back at me with eyes that seemed to be enthralled with the chance to learn something new.  Throughout the rest of the day I found my thoughts returning to their eyes; wide, open, eager, and innocent, ready to grab hold and ingest the information being presented to them for the first time.  I began to think about my own situation and the goals that I have for my own life which include hoping to find a special someone I want to share myself entirely with.  I began to wonder about what it would be like to have the gift of innocent eyes when first approaching a new relationship, to be open and willing to learn all about the person across from me without any preconceived notions, to eagerly await the next bit of information that I can gain.  I wonder how often I prohibit myself from learning wonderful things because I already think I've heard it before.  While I know we all have experiences in life from which we learn and gain wisdom (i.e. fire burns, ice is cold, chocolate is good) I wonder if the lessons we learn about relationships shouldn't be about others but instead about ourselves.  The problem with trying to learn lessons about others in relationships and transferring that knowledge to another is that we are all different and therefor the information from one person isn't going to be the same as another.  In all the relationships I've been in there has only been one constant, myself.  How much better off I would be if I could learn to look inside myself through each relationship to learn more about me and then proceed into the next relationship with the same wide and innocent eyes as those children showed me today, looking at the new person as someone I have never seen before, never had an interaction with before, and as a wealth of information just waiting to be learned without prejudice.  I believe if I could learn to do this, I would begin to find deeper and more special relationships in my life and grow closer to seeing others as God does and understanding what love truly means.