A Bike Ride to the Past!

So easily memories fade with time. Days go by and the simplest things go unnoticed through the busyness. Pushed aside, on the top shelf out of reach and hidden from thought. Today on a bike ride the warm spring air along with the smells that it brings, brought a flood of memories, thoughts, and feelings back to the forefront of my mind. I stepped up on a ladder and found a treasure that I been walking under for quite sometime.

My journey brought me to the park where a majority of my childhood memories start or end. My grandparents lived just up the rode from here and a midweek, summer trip with my brother and I was not at all abnormal for them. Grandma would lovingly pack a snack for the four of us and a roll of crackers for the petting zoo and off we’d go. I’ve spent hours at this park. This place is where I was encouraged to explore and wonder about life. Not that my thoughts as a seven-year-old were all that deep, however it was during those days that I was truly free. Free of cares and free of worry. Oh to be a child again where my deepest concern was how many deer would join us as the fence for a stale saltine cracker.

Where did that sense of freedom go? Was it lost with a broken self image in Middle School? Or maybe it was lost in the responsibility of a driver’s license? Was the urge to take each new day by the horns, to learn and ponder all that I could, run over by the desire to perform in Junior athletics, or the pressure of Senior term papers? Did I loose my carefree nature in attempting to find myself in the early semesters of college? Was it swept away by the World’s harsh idea that to be still is to be unproductive and lazy?

Where ever it went I’m happy to have found it again just for today. It was a gift, an unexpected treasure. I think God is silently pleading with us to be still and observe His Kingdome around us. The people we see are His children. The grass and trees are His garden. Each sunset is hand painted just for us to see and be captivated by. Spring time is full of renewing and the Earth’s desire to become fully alive again.

It is only when we are still enough to listen will God reveal and speak to us. No it might not be audible, but it could be. This is a reminder to myself more than anyone to STOP, LISTEN, and LOOK for God in my mist. We have to seek HIM! He will not shout over the TV or radio. You must meet Him in the core of who you are. Rest and relax in His presence. Be open, receptive, and available. Do that and you’ll find Him not far away.

:o)