"Play time"

Stepping Out in RED Shoes!

- Day 69 - 

Can you come out to play?

When was the last time you stopped what you were doing and remembered what it was like when you were a kid?  Were you a "girlie girl?"  or a tomboy, perhaps?   Maybe you loved riding your bike all over town.   Did you have a basket or a bell on your bike --  maybe streamers hanging from the ends of your hand grips?   I had baseball cards clipped to the spokes of my bicycle wheels with clothes pins. That made my bike sound like it had a motor when I rode it.  Hey... what can I say?  I lived downstairs from two boys and that's what they did, so I did too!  LOL.

Maybe you were a builder.  LEGOs perhaps?  Tinker toys?  Lincoln Logs?  I can remember playing for hours on a rainy day with such things.  When it wasn't raining though, we always played outdoors.  Our projects were much larger outside.  We'd find things from our cellars and garages... even trash barrels.  We'd gather as much stuff as we could find, and build a fort.   That was always fun.  Sometimes it would take days to complete.  

One time a few of us built a fort behind Robbie Russell's garage.  We mixed a bunch of paint together that we found in someone's trash and painted the fort  lavendar.  It was very cool!  -- That is until Mrs. Russell, his mom,  discovered it and made us take it down.  She said it was way too dangerous.  Oh well.  :(

I loved playing with Robbie Russell.  He was the little boy that lived across the street from me.  He had the best collection of matchbox cars around.  He was always really good about sharing, too.  He'd dump all the cars out and say, "You go first!"  I'd pick a car, then he would -- then I'd pick another and he'd do the same, until all the cars were spoken for.  We'd spend a whole afternoon plowing roads and building garages out of stones, to put the cars in.  It was a good time.

Maybe you were more of a team sport kind of kid?  There was always a neighborhood kickball game going on.  All the kids on the street would gather together.  The two oldest would be the captains and would pick the teams.  If it wasn't kickball, it was dodgeball or wiffle ball.  At night, we'd often resort to Red Rover, Red Rover  or Hide n' Seek.

Every once in a while, on a hot summer day, us kids would muster up a nickel or some pennies and head to the corner store.  In those days, a nickel would buy you a nice little bag of penny candy.  Some candy was 3 for a penny.  You could easily end up with 10 or 12 pieces...  a couple jaw breakers, a caramel bull's eye,  a fire ball, some bazooka bubble gum, a banana split, a mint julip, a wafer flying saucer with little candies inside it,  some wax lips and a couple candy cigarettes.  What's better than that?  Sometimes that bag of candy would last for days -- sometimes not.

The lady who owned the corner store was Mary.  She lived right across the street from me.  She had a black dog that always got loose and ran around the  neighborhood.  Sometimes the kids would run after him.  He was a roamer.  You never knew where you'd see that dog.  

I could go on for ages talking about my childhood.  Even as I sit here thinking about it, one story leads to another and another.

  Playing was a nice season of life.  

I'm not quite sure when it all came to an end.  Things started to get much too serious when I started middle school.  Then it became all about who you knew, what you wore and how cool you were.

For some strange reason -- which I can't seem to remember anymore -- I couldn't wait to go off to middle school.  There was something about growing up and being a "BIG"  kid that was so inviting.  At 14, I started working and I've been working ever since.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I love to work.  I'm a hard worker.  I like to accomplish things.  BUT... something very unusual is happening. -- Something I never expected.

Jesus asked me today if I could come out to play. 

He doesn't want to talk shop.  He's called me out from the office, per say, and into the playroom.  He wants me to hang with Him -- play with Him -- have some fun.  He says I'm too serious.  And as much as He doesn't want to hurt my feelings,  He's made it clear that He really doesn't need me to do anything.

He's not interested in what I can do for Him.  

He just wants me to be with Him.

That's Lesson #2 of this new yoke.

He's said this to me many times before, but today I get the sense that life is going to be much more about play than it is about work.  That said, I guess I'm going to have to get myself some RED play shoes!

Gail