My knuckles were as white as a bed sheet, my hands were beginning to sweat, and my grip was beginning to fail. The voices and sounds all around me has all slipped away. Everything echoed from what seemed to be miles off in the distance. They had become a faint cry, as if I had imagined all of this. With my sense of sound out of the way my eyesight was as sharp as a hawk’s. I had never been so focused in my life. As long as I was focused on my hands grasping desperately to that bar!
By now my legs had come off of the floor and my feet were being slung through the air like a banana peel thrown from the window of a speeding car. The sounds began to come back and I heard the screams of the other children as their strength gave out and their fingers slipped away from the only thing that they had left to hold onto. Around and around, for what felt like years I flew. Out of control and out of breath. No one could spin the merry go round like Mr. Elliot!
They don’t make them like that anymore
My childhood playground was amazing. None of these plastic climb on toys with spiral slides and fake rope bridges. No sir, we had the real thing. 12 foot tall steal slides that would burn the flesh off of anything brave enough to touch it. And it didn’t reach the ground either. There was a good 3 foot drop at the end right onto the world’s hardest ground. If you were in the right pair of jeans it would shoot you off of the end like Evel Knievel. The swings, man they were amazing. We would get going so high that the chain would begin to fold over on itself. Then it was time. It was then that we would time our release into the summer sky and soar hi above the crazy kids that were running under us as we swung. Daredevils, all of us.
That merry go round was a wonder of NASA proportions. A huge steel circle set on an axis that would keep it spinning for ages after the last push. The sun was just as brutal with it as it was the slide. The surface was half diamond plate and half smooth hot steal. The bars started about 2 feet from the middle and spider legged out to the ends of this disc of death. Mr. Elliot would come over once each recess and spin it. Man, he had the timing right! It would go so fast we truly were slung off and out into the dirt. You couldn’t see, you couldn’t hear, all you could do was pray and hold on. It was great!
I’m not going to take this opportunity to go off on how soft the generations following us seem in comparison. But I will say this. If I had a new pair of jean last more than a week without permanent grass stains and holes in the knees, It was a miracle.
We were, to say the least, rough and tumble. Funny how we can live one way when we play and a completely different way the rest of the time. Why don’t we jump over creeks or roll down hills anymore? When was the last time you sat in the dirt making towns under the trees with Hot Wheels cars? I bet it has been a while.
“Grow up” may be the worst thing we have told our kids.
As kids we dream, we imagine, we see what could be. Do you remember when you first heard this one, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” We go through childhood not realizing that something vital is being taken away from us a little everyday. As we are molded by parents, teachers, and others in our lives we are told that we can’t fly like Superman, that we can’t talk to animals, that if we behave badly Santa won’t come on Christmas. You see, as children we believe for the best. And more than anything, we hope without fear.
Somewhere between all of the “don’t do that’s, the no’s, the grow up’s, and the sit still’s” we buy into the mindset that anything different from the normal can’t happen. We stop believing there is more out there. We don’t go along just for the ride because we have stopped believing that it would take us anywhere. So we get up, go to work, come home, go to bed, and then do it again. Over and over we settle for less than what we imagined the world would be.
Our God is the creator of all things and He never changes.
We have been fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. He is an unchanging creative God and therefore is still creating. We were made to imagine, to explore, to dream, to be creative. We each have in us that child that once dreamed of being a fighter pilot, or zoo keeper, or super hero. Each of us have faith, but like our childhood dreams, our faith has been limited by growing up in this world.
Jesus told us to have faith, like a child’s faith. He scolded the disciples that tried to keep the children from hearing Him. He called Samuel when he was still a child, and chose David when he was just a boy. He even chose to come to this Earth in the body of a child. Why?
Because He still intends for us to dream. He wants us to believe even when it doesn’t add up. He tells us to mount up with wings as eagles and fly!
What dream have you given up on?
David the boy who would be king had to serve a king who was threatened by his calling. But God chose him, and David believed it would happen. Moses was spared as a child because God saw in a stuttering runaway the hope of a nation.
He has called you to something bigger than you. He has called me to believe that he will bring it to pass. It may mean serving first like David did, but God is “faithful to complete the good work that he has begun “in us. What have you given up on? What dream has slipped into the past as life has focused you in some other direction? Did you forget that you are called to His purpose? Are you still searching for a purpose?
Believe… Ask God to create in you a new heart, one that sees the promise he has birthed inside of you. Climb onto the slide. The fear that has kept you grounded may just be what has kept you from flying. Trust in his plan, swing out as far as you can, let him spin the merry go round. After all He has perfect timing. There is nothing like letting God take you on the adventure of life that He has already planned for you. Faith, like a child. Fearless and hopeful. Don’t hold back! Are there holes in the knees of your jeans? Maybe it’s time time to get on your knees and ask God to give you that childlike joy for living again. The joy of His great adventure for you.