Floating, tumbling, soaring …
through a crystal blue sky, images of Emily’s childhood flashed past her like a
time-traveling machine in reverse.
Here’s where she can relive those memories again as if they’ve just
happened.
Innocence. Love. Happiness. Everything new; nothing boring or repetitive.
There she is, sitting on Mommy’s lap, alongside the old
fireplace they once enjoyed. Emily’s
path was lit by new beginnings; worlds that she’d yet to experience. As years ticked by, memories were born, but the
best were still of her youth.
Time flew by as those baby soft hands changed into stronger
ones. She’s now on the back-porch
building a home of Lincoln Logs; dreaming of her future masterwork, complete
with a puppy room, milkshake maker, and a popcorn machine.
Later, the pig-tailed child with hands bearing the quest for
travel, is riding her bike around the block with Scott, her beagle in tow. She always made the most of the extra hours of
June solstice.
Moving on, her long, thin fingers, are suddenly beaded with
sweat, as she tensely grasps the pen she holds while taking her first school
exam. Days later she closes her eyes,
savoring the moment, but never releasing her grip on the excellent test result.
Years later, newly-manicured fingers firmly clutch the car’s
steering wheel. She relishes the roaring
winds whistling through her long blond hair.
Suddenly she woke, every thought
in high definition, feeling a bump as someone gently tried getting her attention. The dreamlike feelings she’d experienced
earlier were replaced by the sweet, angelic voice that had been placed on her
chest. Looking at the cherubic face of
her newborn daughter, she realized that, God had given her a second chance to
relive her childhood again!
How time flies, she thought. We all enter this life with a set of dreams,
hopes and aspirations. We’re eager to
grow up to achieve these dreams and take on the world. But maybe sometimes in our haste, we forget to
enjoy the journey. We can get so caught
up in achieving our goals, we fail to recognize how quickly time moves on.
Perhaps childhood is one of the best examples of doing what
we love and doing what makes us smile from within. It’s those joyful memories that sustain us,
that carry us through the challenging times and remind us that our loving is
important and worthwhile.
So, go lightly down your chosen path and remember to sing
out loud.
Loving God, we move so fast and sometimes
see so little in our daily travels. Create
in us a desire to pause and pursue moments of introspection. Help us to see in a deeper way, to become
more aware of what speaks to us in beauty and truth. Amen
