The Spire

 May 27, 2025

Hello My Friends,

Last Tuesday, before the session meeting, I was sitting in my van in the church parking lot eating a Chicken McNugget meal. The radio was playing as I nibbled those interesting pieces of meat-ish stuff. It was gray outside. My mind was wandering and I felt a bit apathetic about things in general, kind of mopey, to be honest.

As I sat there, I glanced out my window toward the houses across the street. Suddenly the front door of one house opened quickly and out popped a girl of about eight or nine years old skipping quickly over to her dad. She was care free in that moment, just living for the present and following dad to the car. She had energy and vitality. The gray sky was of no consequence to her; she bounced with joy. It made me smile.

I never really skipped much as a kid but I wondered; ‘could I still skip that way?’ So, the other day I went into the back yard to give it a try. Well, the answer to my question was ‘yes I can, I should not, and please don’t do that again’. I believe Jo may attest to this. Now that I have given you a mental image you neither want nor need, and one Jo may never erase from her mind, I have to tell you that it did make me chuckle. It was silly, foolish, and funny. And that’s ok.

God gives us stuff on the grayest of days to draw us out of the gloom, even if just for a bit, if we will recognize it. Seeing that little girl skip along planted a seed in my mind that had no connection to anything serious or demanding. It was just joyful. It reminded me that it’s ok to let go and just be a kid again once in a while.

Maybe I am taking the Matthew 18:3 verse out of context when It says; “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” But I am going to hang onto it as permission to let the stressors of this world go from time to time and play like a child.

I’m quite certain that my childlike play will not involve skipping, but perhaps I will whistle tunes I did as a child walking around Kirkwood, NY. I never cared who listened, it just made me happy. Maybe through this I might catch a glimpse into the joy of heaven that is available for us all. Care to join me?

God Bless,
Greg