Fourth Right Feelings

It will be the 4th of July for another 8 minutes. I should probably be in bed still, but since I stayed in bed reading all morning, I feel like staying up a little late is totally acceptable.

I didn't get to light a single firework off this year. Sad, right? Burn bans in Waco and the surrounding county didn't allow for a single smoke bomb or sparkler to be lit. Didn't really feel like 4th of July without playing with fire. Plus we watched fireworks from on top of a parking garage. At first this sounded like a good idea, but some of the magic of fireworks gets lost when you are looking straight at them and not up at them.

Granted, it was a great time to hang out with some fellow Mission Waco people, but it made me miss my family. When I texted my brother Josh asking if they were lighting fireworks his reply was, "They get less exciting the older you get."

He's totally right. And I've decided this applies to so much more than fireworks.

Think about how excited little boys get about tractors that drive by or firetrucks when they have their sirens going off. Or little girls about wearing pretty dresses and having tea parties. Or even the excitement of going to Grandma's house or church or school. Where does all that excitment go? And why does it go?

Why is it so hard for us to get excited about simple things, like getting to go to a movie at the theatre or getting an ice cream cone? Why don't we find as much joy in swinging or playing a game of tag? Why don't flowers look as pretty? Why do clouds seem shapeless where there used to be animals floating across the sky? Why do hugs from mom and dad seem less important or time spent around the dinner table seem boring? Why can't we enjoy fireworks like we used to?

Because we don't let ourselves.

We have this stupid idea that we have to grow up, that for some reason we can't pick wildflowers out of stranger's yards or run in the sprinkler or gaze at the clouds looking for an elephant. Lost is the simplicity of life, the joy in the little things, the amazement that was often found at the smallest of wonders.

I think at times, Peter Pan had it right, at least part of it. I don't mean we should run away from our responsibilities, live like a child, dependant on others for everything, never mature or grow up. But the idea that a part of us can stay like a child, can have that childlike wonder and amazement strikes me as something to be desired, to be sought after. A childlike faith, one that whole heartedly follows what it loves and desires, one that doesn't ask unnecessary questions or doubts when it has no reason to, that is what we need. We need to allow ourselves the chance to see fireworks and be amazed.

Until next time, find an animal in the clouds, get excited about something little.