Thursday, July 3, 2008

Skip

If, spiritually speaking, we need to learn to run and jump. I think its only fair that we should learn to skip, too. When's the last time you saw an adult skip? I bet it wasn't recently.

Kids skip. They do it unself-conciously, becuase it's fun and they can. Kids skip. Becuase they don't have a care in the world.

So when is it we stop skipping, and why? I think somewhere in the process of growing up we begin to care what other people think of us, and we begin to be burdened with responsibility and hurts. And we stop skipping.

I'm not suggesting we all head out and literally skip around the block, in some warped effort to bring back a lost art form. And the reality is that grown-ups deal with some pretty heavy things. Sometimes life weighs us down so much that all we can manage is a stagger. We can barely put one foot in front of another. I get that. I've lived there.

But often times I think we put those burdens on ourselves. Jesus says, "my burden is light".

Why does it feel so heavy?

Maybe we care about things we shouldn't. Maybe we take on responsibilities that were never meant to be ours. Maybe we are addicted to worry, and control. And maybe the ball and chain that keep us staggering forward is of our own making.

Jesus said, "do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?'
All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.

So stop your worrying and skip.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Stephanie-----I loved your "Skipping" essay. It was so neat. I like the way you think! You can make things so practical. You learned lots of good spiritual lessons while you were growing up. God bless you sweet Granddaughter. Grandma T.