This is the third post in my 'I Don't Want To Grow Up' series. The other posts are entitled, 'I Don't Want To Grow Up - Beyond Dreaming', and 'I Don't Want To Grow Up - Beyond Caring'.
I don't want to be so "grown up" that I no longer play.
I don't want to stop playing
Because there are better things to do
And they must come first.
That's not to say I don't want to take responsibility for what's important - quite the contrary. What I mean by that is I want to remember to take time to enjoy little things. I want to take the time to "stop and smell the roses", even if I've got "the garden to weed".
It's easy to become so busy and forget to slow down and just play for a little while. This life is fast paced and full of stuff that call for our attention. People seem to always be saying, "I don't have time for that!" I don't want to ever become so exhaustively busy that I don't have time to play, or enjoy life. I know I'll get busier as I get older but hey, I don't think that has to mean I'll stop having fun.
I don't want to despise twirling in the
thunder storm
And stop marveling
In the beauty of the lightening that
flashes across the sky.
I wish I would still play like this little girl and be enthralled by something as simple as rain. Though I don't show as much delight as she does, I do enjoy it even now - the sound it makes as it pours from the sky and strikes the ground, the smell of it in the spring air, the wonderfully cool feel of it on a warm summer afternoon, and the way everything green perks up after a hard rain.
I remember one night at camp as I was heading back to the girls' trailer, it started pouring. We'd been having a long dry spell, but suddenly it began to rain. Thunder rumbled deep and loud, and I stood there and started laughing. It was pretty dark and ha, like usual I'd forgotten to bring my flashlight, but that only made the lightening seem all the more magnificent as it lit up the sky in response to the thunder. *Grins* I love this memory because I remember how happy I felt in that moment, in the dark, in the rain, marveling at the fact that God had created and sent forth that display. When I got back to the trailer I remember coming through the door and saying to the girls sitting on the couch, "It's raining!" and feeling so... delighted by what I'd seen.
(Yes, I know ya shouldn't stay outside when there's lots of lightening, and I didn't stay out long, for your information. ;) I stayed out long enough to be fairly wet though. ^_^)
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| Me covered in fluffies. ;) |
Ha, I don't even know if I'm explaining this so that others will understand. *Motions with hands* Play. Do you know what it's like to play? To goof around, tease, and laugh until ya can hardly breathe? Or make up songs and games that are built of pure inspiration (or sugar... I think sugar late at night helps... ;) ) and often verging into goofy-insanity? Or looking wide-eyed at the sun- rise (that is different and yet as wonderful as the previous morning's) and again well up with awe? Or looking at the clouds to find the pictures built in your imagination and the wind? Or running through the waves of the ocean and feeling the wild tug to go deep enough to be knocked over and plunge into the strong surging tide? Ya know what I'm talking about? Mmm, silly joy - That. That is what I don't think we should lose, as we grow up - the ability to find that kind of pleasure and joy in the good things God gives us.
I don't want to grow out of laughing-
Genuinely, fully, without thought of
those around -
The type of laughing that others don't
have to understand
But secretly wish they weren't afraid
To share in too.
Being self-conscious can take away a lot of the fun out of playing. I know, 'cause I don't always join in, even when they look fun, and I'm learning to try new things even when I'm not all that sure of myself. I don't want to "grow up" and act like laughing with all I am is no longer permissible. ;) Yeah, okay, maybe with the right people I become a crazy hyper thing, but let me tell ya, you'll know for sure I'm having fun when you see that side of me. ^^_^^
Ya know, God made us to enjoy companionship and with the ability to have fun. It struck me again just now that God takes delight in things. He delights in giving us what is good, and wants us to appreciate what He gives. He sends the rain, the snow, the sun rises and rainbows. He puts others in our lives for a reason. He gave us the ability to create things and share experiences. He is a God that sends blessings - we should take delight in them. We should take time to play.
*Grins* I want to remain playful - laughing, teasing, playing, encouraging - going through life trying to be uplifting to those around me. Sure, there will be hard days, long days, and times when I don't feel like playing, but I want to have an attitude that still looks for joy in the midst of it all, with God's strength. He is the reason I can play.
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| Original Picture By Theodora Ashcraft |
Now my question for you is: How will you seek to take time to play?
~Ophelia - Marie
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