Do you know what a rhinoceros beetle looks like? How about a tarantula hawk? Big weird bugs matter to me. They always have. Maybe it’s the crazy variety of life on earth? Or the extravagance of design in colored wings and mimicry? Whatever it is, I love them so much that I want my kids to know about them and enjoy them too. So I have quite a few specimens framed on the wall of my front room.

I could sit my kids down to learn about them, or we could watch nature shows and visit the bug museum (which we’ve also done), but the most powerful impressions are formed daily by the stuff right there in front of our eyeballs. And this applies far beyond my displays of bugs, or an ostrich egg or whatever cool rock I’m into that day. The art on the wall, the big bowl of fruit on the table -  I make choices all the time to put things in front of their eyeballs that I hope will pique their interest and delight. It’s a daily diet of good impressions.

“In front of their eyeballs” is how I nudge them to get into the fun books we picked up at the library. I actually lay the new books on the floor, some open to an eye-catching page. The books are much more likely to make an impression that way than carefully stowed on the shelf. 

Our attention is caught by what’s right here. We develop habits of seeking out things like those that first caught our attention. So put the good stuff front and center! What impressions do you want in your mind, or your kids’ or your friends’? Set the stuff you love in front of your eyeballs! Literally pin it to your wall or put it in a bowl on your kitchen table.

Whether your thing is bugs, great illustrations, good food, the liturgical calendar, or the weird blend of those things that makes up my house, put it on the wall, on the shelf, on the window, whatever works for you to get those things in front of their eyeballs and into their souls.