A young child’s favorite word isn’t “no,” though sometimes it seems like it is! If you listen to your children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, you’ll regularly hear them use words like why, what, and where. 

They’re continuously asking questions, questions, and more questions.  

• “Grandpa, where are you going?”  
• “Mommy, why did you do that?”  
• “Daddy, what are you holding?” 
• “Mimi, what are you doing?” 

Kids are curious. The world is new to them, and they’re trying to make sense of it all.  

However, as we grow up, we tend to think we have the world figured out and lose our sense of curiosity. This lack of inquisitiveness makes the world easier to understand and gives us the illusion of control. 

But it’s not a good thing for our society or any of us as individuals. If we aren’t curious, our minds, views, and even our world, will get smaller.  

Often, we don’t notice our lack of curiosity (I know I don’t). It just happens when we get overly comfortable with our lives. We get stuck in our routines, job duties, favorite restaurants, and friends. 

We need to be curious, to explore new places, meet new people, and try to understand another person’s opinion. 

If you’re in a transition right now, you’ve lost something. The danger we face when this happens is the desire to replace the loss quickly and for it to be as close as possible to what we had before.  

For example, say you lost your job in purchasing with a mid-sized manufacturing organization. You’re search strategy will most likely be looking for a purchasing job in a mid-sized organization, probably in manufacturing. 

That’s not wrong. You may have enjoyed the type of work you did, along with the size of the company.  

But in searching for what you had, you limit yourself to what you might become. Even if you were good at what you did, what if a different industry, position, or type of company you flourished beyond what you imagined? A time of transition is the best time to try something new and different.  

The world is full of more possibilities than we can begin to imagine. I love the passage in Ephesians that reminds us not to try and limit what God can do:  

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
(Ephesians 3:20-21) 

Why do we lose the childlike curiosity we once had? I think it’s because we fear taking risks. We fear failure. 

Additionally, we tend not to celebrate those who try something new. In fact, we’re usually concerned about them. Listen to what people say when someone is trying something new, you’ll hear things like:  

• “Have they really thought it through?” 
• “That’s a big risk!” 
• “Why do they want to do that?”  

Let’s encourage and celebrate curiosity, not only in ourselves, but others. See what God has in store for the curious.