Skipping on the Playground

At what age do we lose our childish exuberance?

I was in the drive through lane at the Taco Bell the other night, (Which by the way needs to be another topic for another time. The evils of driving thru late at night.) when I saw youthful exuberance. One little high school girl was working behind the counter when her other little high school friends came in after practice. You would have thought that they were reunited after years of seeing each other. The hugging, the giggling, and the jumping up and down seemed quite over the top. Then I began to wonder. When was the last time that I became that enthusiastic about anything, especially the meeting of friends after my day was nearly complete?

There was something a bit sad as I sat there late at night feeding my face with way too much fast food, sugary Mt. Dew pop, and my Carmel Apple Empanada. When did commercial fast food become the substitute for the bigger joys in life. The small pleasure now go unnoticed and have been replace with things that leave you feeling sick, bloated, and all to often dissatisfied?

A few days have past and the gnawing feeling of somehow I am completely missing the mark in my life get pushed to the back burner. Its not gone but I begin tending to the urgent in my life. Then it happens again. I am out on the playground watching the kids playing at school. We as adults call this recess "duty". We have reduced this childhood pleasure to adult "duty". All of the teachers are sitting on the bench hoping that the time will speed up and we can just get back to business. That when it hit. There was a group of three girls from the 1st or 2nd grade. They were holding hands and skipping in a line, and singing "Loo! Loo! Skip to my Loo." They were covering a lot of playground territory. The first grade teacher grabbed my hand and the other first grade teacher's hand and we began to skip around the playground as well. (Side note-I teach 5th grade.) Yes my feet hurt and I was winded, but it felt good.

Mark 10:15
I tell you the truth, you must accept the kingdom of God as if you were a little child, or you will never enter it."