Eric and I were talking last night and I had a thought. At what point in one’s life, does having fun become work? It can be 100 degrees outside and you can look out the window from your air conditioned house and see kids out on the hot pavement skateboarding and biking, laughing and carefree. It can be an arctic blizzard out that same window with icicles hanging from every surface, and children are happily sliding around and catching a snowball in the nose. Oblivious is the word that comes to mind. Happily, wonderfully lost in oblivion with nowhere to be and nothing to get done.
Wouldn’t it be nice to go back and be in that world again? I don’t remember ever feeling too hot or too cold to play outside with my friends. Playing was the center of my attention and nothing else mattered. I could play outside all day on a Saturday, and sometimes skip lunch and not even recognize it until my mom beckoned me to come in and eat something. Clocks were just fixtures on the wall that I hardly noticed. I remember going to a friend’s house and asking my mom how long I could stay. She would give me an hour limit and I thought that was eons. Now an hour is barely enough time to do anything. Time seems to slip away; minutes, hours, days, and months fly by.
So when does this happen to a person? Is it when that first job enters your life? Does it happen little by little or all at once? I don’t remember, but I wish I could have kept the good part of childhood. I’m aware that I have to watch the clock now, but do I have to watch it all of the time? I could ignore it some days and get lost in that beautiful place: oblivion. In those times my creative mind could take over and I could be fun for awhile. Maybe I could schedule oblivion time into my day.
“Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them. Jesus wants us to be oblivious to some degree. He wants us to be fun-loving and to laugh and smile and enjoy each other. He wants us to be at peace and for us to not have stress. We should trust him like we trusted our parents to take care of us when we were children. There are some things I’m sure he would prefer that we ignore.
We pick up things as we grow older. Racism, political strife, religious disagreements, pride, just to name a few, these are all things I regret I ever gave attention. They are ugly. There is no place for them in heaven and there should not be a place for them here either. If we all spent more time like a child, lost in their world, I believe it would be a wonderful world to live in. So, on that note, set the timer and be oblivious today.
Wouldn’t it be nice to go back and be in that world again? I don’t remember ever feeling too hot or too cold to play outside with my friends. Playing was the center of my attention and nothing else mattered. I could play outside all day on a Saturday, and sometimes skip lunch and not even recognize it until my mom beckoned me to come in and eat something. Clocks were just fixtures on the wall that I hardly noticed. I remember going to a friend’s house and asking my mom how long I could stay. She would give me an hour limit and I thought that was eons. Now an hour is barely enough time to do anything. Time seems to slip away; minutes, hours, days, and months fly by.
So when does this happen to a person? Is it when that first job enters your life? Does it happen little by little or all at once? I don’t remember, but I wish I could have kept the good part of childhood. I’m aware that I have to watch the clock now, but do I have to watch it all of the time? I could ignore it some days and get lost in that beautiful place: oblivion. In those times my creative mind could take over and I could be fun for awhile. Maybe I could schedule oblivion time into my day.
“Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them. Jesus wants us to be oblivious to some degree. He wants us to be fun-loving and to laugh and smile and enjoy each other. He wants us to be at peace and for us to not have stress. We should trust him like we trusted our parents to take care of us when we were children. There are some things I’m sure he would prefer that we ignore.
We pick up things as we grow older. Racism, political strife, religious disagreements, pride, just to name a few, these are all things I regret I ever gave attention. They are ugly. There is no place for them in heaven and there should not be a place for them here either. If we all spent more time like a child, lost in their world, I believe it would be a wonderful world to live in. So, on that note, set the timer and be oblivious today.
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