Reclaiming the wonder we once carried so naturally.
This weekend our ex-roommate, Ryan, his girlfriend, Ash, and their three kids spent the weekend with us. I spent part of the evening lying on the floor with Way, the preschooler, and Rho, the first grader. We are playing with a massive amount of Legos! I was fascinated by their creations and amazed by the number of questions they asked, some relevant, but many not. It got me thinking about their curiosity. And mine.
There’s something sacred in a child’s “Why?”—not just as a request for information, but as an act of wonder.
Spend five minutes with a preschooler and you’ll hear a cascade of questions: Why is the lego blue? Why can’t dogs (our dog, Jazi, specifically) talk? Why do we have to wear shoes? These questions come fast, without embarrassment, and with a kind of deep faith that the world has something meaningful to reveal.
At some point, many of us stop doing that. We grow up, get busy, and start to value knowing over wondering. We start to believe that not knowing means we’re behind.
But maybe curiosity isn’t something we grow out of.
Maybe it’s something we’re meant to grow back into.
Children as Natural Scientists
Developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik once described children as “the R&D department of the human species.” She wasn’t exaggerating.
In her Blicket Detector study, preschoolers were introduced to a strange toy—a machine that lit up and played music when certain blocks were placed on it. Some combinations made it go off; others didn’t. The rules were intentionally unpredictable.
Here’s the twist: children often figured out the hidden logic behind the toy better than adults.
Why? Because they explored freely. They didn’t get stuck trying to confirm their existing beliefs—they tested, observed, adapted. In short, they treated uncertainty as an invitation, not a threat.
That stands in sharp contrast to a classic psychology experiment by Peter Wason in the 1960s. In what became known as the 2-4-6 Task, adults were shown a sequence of numbers—2, 4, 6—and told it followed a rule. They could test their guesses by offering new sequences. Most participants assumed the rule was “increasing by twos,” and they tested similar patterns like 8-10-12, which confirmed their belief. But the real rule was far simpler: any ascending numbers. Very few discovered this—because they only tested what they thought was right. They weren’t exploring, they were confirming. In other words, they were looking for certainty, not truth.
Children, by contrast, tend to poke at the edges of what they don’t know. They’re less afraid of being wrong and more interested in discovering what else might be true.
“Like a Child…”
There’s a line from the Gospel of Mark that has always stood out to me:
“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
(Mark 10:15, ESV)
At first glance, this verse often gets tied to innocence or humility. But I wonder if curiosity is also part of it.
Children don’t just accept—they receive. They open themselves up to mystery. They ask questions, sit in wonder, explore what doesn’t make sense yet. They’re not embarrassed by their lack of understanding. In fact, they seem energized by it. They’re not focused on finding support for their beliefs.
Maybe that’s part of what it means to “receive like a child”—to stay open to what we don’t yet understand. To approach faith, learning, and life not with airtight certainty, but with a posture of curiosity and trust.
Not “I already know,” but “I’m willing to be shown.”
Stay Wondering
Curiosity may look simple, but it’s radical in a world that prizes answers. It keeps us wide-eyed, awake, and in relationship with the world around us-and the world within.
Jesus didn’t say, “Become a child.” He said, “Receive like one.”
That’s not about going backward—it’s about recovering something deep that we once knew instinctively:
That we are here to wonder, to explore, and to be changed by what we find.
So here’s to that.
To asking better questions.
To not needing to have it all figured out.
To staying open, even when we don’t understand.
To receiving—like a child.
Can We Reignite Our Curiosity?
Perhaps. Try –
- Sit with a question before Googling. Let yourself wonder longer than feels comfortable.
- Try beginner’s mind. Walk through your daily routine as if you’ve never seen it before. What happens?
- Notice judgment and ask a question instead. For example, shift from “Why did I do that again?” to “What might I be needing in that moment?”
- Be open to mystery. In your spiritual life, your relationships, your inner dialogue—make room for the unknown.
- Spend time with children. Observe how they explore. Let them lead you, even if only for ten minutes.
I wonder what will happen?
