Through The Eyes Of A Child

This past weekend my son and I decided to have a picnic at our local park.  This park is pretty amazing with the beautiful fall trees surrounding baseball fields, soccer fields, a walking path, gigantic playground, and lots of hills which make this a great sledding destination in the winter.  During this beautiful Fall season Colorado is having, we decided that this was just the thing we needed to spend some “date” time together and get out of the house. 

We packed up the SUV and headed out for our time of adventure.  Adventure we did have!  While walking through the park to find our perfect picnic landing spot we were met with many wasps! It was pretty remarkable how everyone in the park seemed to play without notice to the wasps that were very noticeable by Bradley and I.  Being extremely afraid of the sting, we moved to a location that seemed clear of the pesky buzzers. We sat down, began to eat and there again were wasps! They climbed all over our things and we ran about 10 ft away and watched as wasp upon wasp entered our area.  It was apparent that we were invading “their territory”, and as we stood there feeling rather helpless we watched as our food was claimed.  Realizing that I was the only one that could save our picnic and that my son was watching my every move to see what bravery might bestow his mom, I mustered up the courage from somewhere to become the one who would take on these wasps head on.  This confidence must have come from the Lord, as I usually run with fear when a wasp is anywhere near me.  I took a deep breath and did what any sane mother would do.  I ran toward them waving my arms around in the air and grabbing everything I could hold and then quickly ran in the opposite direction.  I am sure it was silly to those on-lookers however that day, I conquered a fear to “save” the picnic!

We made our way to an open grassy area and sat while he ate. (I was much too flustered to eat.)  We watched a soccer game that was taking place in the field below and my son got a great idea to roll down the hills of the park.  These are about 15 ft+ hills that slowly decline and I have to admit are amazing to roll on.  He wanted me to roll with him, but realizing how many people were around, I opted out and instead said I’d video him doing it.  He rolled down 3 times and each time I remembered how much I absolutely loved to do that as a kid and even teenager.  But now, being an adult that is just plain silly! Right? Maybe not.  Maybe that is exactly what Bradley needed that day.  For me to come down to his level and just roll down a hill.  We would have shared laughs and made a memory.  I was way too concerned with other’s thoughts to just let loose!  What a lesson I was taught that day through the experience my child tried to share with me.  Maybe it was ME who would have received the blessing of this experience?  What’s wrong with a little hill rolling action? 
                                        
It has definitely gotten my wheels turning that maybe it is what we all need; to see life through the eyes of a child sometimes or even most times.  Life can be pretty mundane and very stressful. What’s wrong with a little rolling down the hill?  I mean, if I can run around with arms flailing to save the picnic from the dreadful wasps, surely one roll down the hill wouldn’t have killed me.  It may have actually been fun!