A Child's Perspective

Although my favorite show is Star Trek: Voyager, I also love all other Star Trek shows and movies. the second Star Trek series is called Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is centered on the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise; a science vessel on a long term mission to explore the galaxy. On this ship they allow for the families of the officers to stay on-board. There is an episode titled "Imaginary Friend" that has always stuck with me.

In the episode, a young girl named Clara has an invisible friend named Isabella. Clara would often talk about her friend to members of the crew, but no one thought much of it - thinking it was just an imaginary friend - a phase she would pass through. However, Isabella was not as imaginary as they thought. It turned out that she was an alien being that lived in a nearby nebula that had chosen to only show itself in the form of a young girl to Clara. After a while, Isabella wanted to see more of the ship than Clara had shown her. Many parts of the ship were off limits to the children for safety reasons. They two tried to see the places of the ship where they are not allowed several times. Each time they were caught  and Clara would tell them that Isabella wanted her to go. Clara was told very strongly each time that she was not allowed to go to certain places. This upset Isabella very much it made her so angry that she began to destroy the ship. When the Captain of the Ship - Captain Picard - discovered that Isabella was real he began speaking to her and she appeared to him.

Captain Picard offered her power-energy for her and her people if she would not destroy them. Their conversation was quiet interesting...

Isabella told the Captain, "You should be destroyed. You are cruel, uncaring creatures." She went on to say that they were unfair to Clara. 

"In what way did we mistreat her?" Captain Picard asked.

"You wouldn't let her do what she wanted to... or go where she wanted to..."

Captain Picard then Replied, "You've seen this ship...all of us...from a unique perspective - a child's point of view. It's must have seemed terribly unfair and restrictive...You must understand how deeply we care for [our children]. When our children are young, they cannot always understand what might be dangerous. Our rules are a way to keep them from harm."

Isabella then understood and was able to see how young Clara was and that she needed to be kept safe. Isabella after realizing she had been wrong left the ship and it's crew unharmed. 

I like this episode because I believe it can easily relate to our relationship with Heavenly Father. He gives us rules-commandments, and sometimes we may feel that they are 'unfair and restrictive.' In reality it is the contrary. He gives us these rules to keep us safe. We still have the ability to chose if we want to obey the rules or not, just as Clara had chosen to go where she was not allowed. If our Heavenly Father did not care, then He would not give us commandments to follow, but He loves us very much and wants us to be safe. Right now we can only have the 'child's perspective' where we don't understand the big picture - all of the dangers. I can testify that if we submit to the Lord and trust in Him we will find safety and peace.