Playgrounds

Matthew 6:34 " Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of it's own."  NIV

For those of us who are in the second anniversary of our 25th birthday, give or take a year, we have great memories of the fantastic playgrounds of old.  No one cared about lawsuits, skinned knees, or stubbed toes. Bactine covered anything that was skinned or stubbed, with mom pulling out the mecurochrome (yes I had to look it up to make sure I spelled it right) if the Bactine wouldn't do the trick.  There was no liquid skin, stitches were rare, and if we came home bloody and bruised, it was a trophy, not a reason to hire a lawyer.

After all, playgrounds were where you went to do all the things that made your mom gasp, grabbing at her heart like you were about to gain your heavenly wings right that moment.  You could impress your friends, giggle at the boys, and pretend you were invincible.  Every toy would potentially cut off your fingers, sling you off and break your arm, burn the skin off your legs when you slid down it, or knock you silly when you forgot to duck after jumping off the swing when you were just about to touch the clouds.

When sweetheart and I were out forcing our children to walk around the park, we happened upon this old playground.  It's swings were old, rusted with time, showing signs of the thousands of hours of flight time by young hearts reaching for the heavens.  The "go round" as we called it in younger years, was rickety, squeaking and scraping but still able to sling off the unwary rider.  We, being the good parents, decided it was best not to sling pregnant daughter off, although one would have to admit to it being awfully tempting.

We had to try everything, just to see if it was still the same.  And do you know that it still brought forth shrieks of laughter, making us forget the days troubles, helping us find some joy in something so simple.  How quickly we can be brought back to the joys of yesterday.  How easy to make tomorrows troubles seem so far away.  How easy it would have been to just sit inside, tucked away from the world, mindlessly passing by these moments of bliss that our Abba places in our paths.

I know that not everyone can find an old park to help bring back the simpler times.  For many, there never was a simpler time.  But in the old and often overlooked things of our past are often the very things which will bring us wisdom and joy today.  Let God guide you to your carefree place.  Take time to skin your knees, dig in the dirt, try out your flying skills on a swing that takes you towards the heavens.  Reach up, reach out, and always remember that your Father in Heaven has all the Bactine you need to heal those bumps and bruises.