I don’t know who coined the phrase ignorance is bliss, but they were on to something. All right. Settle down and give me a chance to explain.
A couple of situations involving my kids in recent weeks really got me thinking about this topic. They were entirely different situations that left me a weird combination of dumbfounded and sad. In fact, I had started writing something specifically about those events and God put the brakes on it about 500 words in.
God insisted I stop, delete it all, and pray. When I did, He refocused me with the phrase “ignorance is bliss.” You all, God is wild. He just doesn’t always do or respond the way you expect. He brought something completely full circle for me in that time of prayer.
Sometimes, it’s better not to know. What a gift He gives us by not crippling us with the pressure and burden of all there is to know. Friends, all the tests say my spiritual gifts are wisdom and knowledge. I’m a trained journalist with a compulsion to prepare for all potential scenarios. I want to know all the things. Or do I? I look at situations in hindsight and am unbelievably grateful that God protected me from advanced knowledge.
It’s difficult to rally from the weight and responsibility of knowing too much before we’re ready. It’s overwhelming and can trigger the wrong responses. The other side is that we must learn to trust. Having faith and trust in God is a core pillar of Christianity. We don’t develop our faith by knowing the outcome before we agree to obey. It is often healthier when don’t know everything.
There’s a dish I fix for my family where I use riced cauliflower instead of traditional rice. My kids saw that once and claimed they didn’t like it and wouldn’t eat it. The next few times I fixed it with regular rice, and they resumed eating. Then I made the switch again and carefully protected that information. Everyone now eats it without complaint. Sometimes, it’s better when we don’t know. I’ll tell them eventually, but for now, it’s healthier because I protect them from that knowledge.
Knowledge is important, but wisdom says there’s a right time and pace. Knowledge doesn’t bring the peace and contentment that we’re ultimately searching for. Only God can do that. “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.” Psalm 29:11 (NIV).
It’s not so farfetched as an adult. We can feel the benefits of checking out of the 24-7 news cycles or taking a social media break. We understand that some knowledge is unhealthy. While I am learning to appreciate not knowing all the things as an adult, my bigger concern is as a parent.
I keep replaying a conversation I had with my youngest about something he picked up from other kids at school. It’s an adult topic well beyond what children his age should know.
“I’m not asking any more questions because I don’t want to know the answers,” he said, after getting a crude explanation from his older brother while I was speechless trying to figure out how to answer him without answering him.
I reminded him that he is always welcome to ask me questions. I will do my best to answer them truthfully while still protecting him from things he doesn’t need to know yet. Children don’t need to know everything grownups know. They need to have fun and be innocent longer. I’m concerned about what we’re doing to children when we encourage them to know more, do more, accomplish more, and be responsible for more than they’re equipped to handle.
We want time to slow down where our children are concerned yet we push for more at younger ages. No area is exempt. This flows through academics and all sorts of extracurricular activities into social elements. We don’t even dress kids like kids anymore. I’m guilty of these things, too. I push too hard in one area and get too lax in another.
Parenting is hard in any age, but in a time when nearly every single thing society knows is available at the fingertips of an elementary-aged child, then it’s extra hard. Parents I know it’s difficult to say no and be the filter, but we must. We’re heaping knowledge, responsibilities, and anxieties on them that they’re just not ready for.
There’s kingdom value in childhood.
In Matthew 18:1-3 (NIV), when answering a question for His disciples about who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus made a point of emphasizing the importance of children and their faith. It’s important that they be given the chance to be little. Proverbs 22:6 is the popular “Train up a child in the way he should go” verse. Several translations use the word “train.” Train means to practice over time. Skipping practice doesn’t prepare us for the game and skipping over childhood doesn’t prepare us to be grownups. Let’s stop putting adult knowledge and pressure on children.
Friends, sometimes ignorance is bliss.
Photo by Robert Collins/Unsplash
