Curiosity Can Do More than Kill the Cat...

While the phrase “curiosity killed the cat” has its merits, I am afraid that curiosity has gotten a bad rap. Sure, we all yell at the girl in the horror movie not to go after the noise she hears, to run away from danger, and yes curiosity paired with stupidity will surely get anyone into trouble, but curiosity is a good thing. Wise curiosity allows us to know God, the world around us, and ourselves. I love the curiosity in children to get into things, take things apart and to delve into life with a sense of discovery. It’s a beautiful thing to behold and to experience and somewhere in those teen years we become more concerned with how we appear to others and we lose our curiosity at the expense of our reputation. We stifle our inquisitiveness to avoid wandering into a place that might be socially unacceptable. We stumble into curiosities, we never had ourselves, to appear cool to those around us. All that really does is waste precious time. Those years are precious. Curiosity will lead us to purpose and direction. Direction that will get us farther the earlier we find it. Like Austin Gutwein who was curious about those orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Zambia – wondering what it would be like without parents. His questions led him to compassion and to starting up a fundraiser that would change lives – all this at the age of 9. Hoops of Hope, his organization has raised $1 million and counting to build hospitals, schools and provide shelters for the children and people of Zambia. He put his curiosity to good use and allowed himself to seek to answer the question, “What is possible?” The answer was beyond his wildest dreams. The teen years are often seen as the selfish years, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Austin, now 13, is only one example of this principle. There are other examples of teens who have stepped outside of themselves to see what is possible. The great thing is – you could be next? What are you curious about? What could you do to change the world? How are you limiting the possibilities of what you could accomplish? What fears stand in your way? Maybe its time to let the cat out of the bag and seek after what we find curious in God’s word and in his world? What is stifling your curiosity? Ecclesiastes 12:1 says, ”Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’.” We only get one chance at life and while the going with the flow has its benefits in keeping us from negative emotions, it can also steal an abundant life from our existence. Get out there and live life to its fullest!