The first few days of holding my firstborn, I couldn’t help but look at my daughter and see nothing but sheer innocence. Her mind and soul is untainted. It truly is a sight to see when she looks into my eyes and all I see is complete innocence. But I also know one day that innocence will wear off—but until then I will cherish these moments.
As an infant, she obviously has not disobeyed her mom or me, cussed someone out, told a fib, witnessed a horrific accident, seen a racy movie, or even had a bad thought. She was and still is purely and inexplicably innocent. I look at my daughter and there something so amazing and indescribable about her innocence.
Innocence as we grow older is usually not the topic of conversation but rather the opposite. Adolescents quickly learn that they want to break the rules and experience life for themselves. College students and young adults have a desire to experiment with sex. All the while innocence is going by the wayside. In fact innocence becomes a topic not for socially inept individuals but for prudes.
As we grow older, that innocence starts to wane. We start telling lies to get what we want, sneak out of the house to go to that party, start experimenting with sexual activities, etc. It seems the older we get, the less and less innocent we become.
For those of you who have had multiple sexual experiences, let me ask you this question: Do you wish you could go back to “stage 1” before all of your experimentation began and start again? Do you wish you could go back to that stage of innocence? Why or why not?
A number of sexually active individuals I have talked with, do wish they could go back to the start. After so many partners, some have developed trust issues, attachment issue, abandonment issues, and even have problems of “shaking” those old memories. In the moment it seems fun, but over time those sexual experiences can add up. In some circles, you may be considered a “stud.” In other circles, you may be considered “loose.” What is for sure you will no longer be considered “innocent.” One may desire and be willing to do anything to go back to those innocent days but they are gone.
The challenge, then, for us is to make the better choices in terms of our sexual experiences because instead of having potential baggage building up, one is having more freedom. The challenge is not thinking that “innocence” is synonymous with naivety but that it is something to be valued and honored. Let’s live lives that embrace innocence, a life that is proud of being sexually faithful and honoring to one’s spouse or future spouse.
An EndNote: This post is not applicable to those who have been sexually violated in anyway, but the purpose here is to show that when we have a choice, lets choose sexual faithfulness.
The Blog of Bryan A. Sands 
“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.” When I was an adolescent I wanted nothing more than to go back to the innocence of childhood, and not knowing about all the bad things in the world. That’s why Catcher in the Rye resonated with me, as did your post. I feel like innocence in general is something we look upon fondly, and as worthy of preserving, not just sexual innocence.