The Swings
Sitting in my office now, I can hear a swing from the preschool/day care just across the parking lot. The swing whines a little higher as it goes forward and a little lower as it coasts backward. I don’t know which child is enjoying the swings right now, but I can tell you that it is a fairly constant sound. It’s not annoying in any way, just a small and somewhat distant whine that I can hear if things are quieter in the office.
I remember loving to swing on the swings as a child. It almost felt like I was flying – what a marvelous thing! Some kids could jump off the swings at just the right time and go sailing through the air and land well. I could not do jump off with any sort of accuracy or grace, but I could swing!
I honestly cannot remember the last time I went for a “swing on the swings.” Maybe I took a swing or two when my kids were smaller and we frequented the neighborhood playground? But it’s been a few years since I spent quality time at the playground. Their requests have generally aged out of play equipment to computers or shopping or friends. Though, if I was to wander to the playground, I imagine I’d still like the swings.
We age and we change and somewhere along that path, we stop doing some of the simplest things that might still bring us joy. We hop in the car to go somewhere, driving past puddles to jump in or flowers to wonder at. We log into computers to do work or find out news and miss the marvel of the intricacies of spider’s web or the way the little birds swoop this way and that.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with hopping into cars or logging on to computers. These are needed things in our lives and many of us do these things as part of our work (here I am writing to you on a computer, after all). But I do think they can co-exist with pauses for awe, moments to marvel, and time to wonder at the things that happen around us. Children seem to have this part down better than adults do but we adults are not lost causes.
People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
- Luke 18:15-17
We can enter the Kingdom of God today if we remember to pause, to marvel at the world God is constantly creating around us, or just by drawing nearer to God for a moment. We can see that Kingdom right now in the wonder of the earth in nature, in all of God’s unique people, or even the miracle of the swings at the playground that make you feel like you’re a bird in the air. The Kingdom of God is at hand, let’s not miss it.
I wonder about the kiddo on the swings. I imagine they like the swings just as I did. Can they jump off at the perfect moment or are they more like me and come to a stop on the ground instead? And beyond the swings, who will they grow up to be? What will they do in their life?
Whatever they do in the future, I hope they do not forget the delight of the swings or the delight of God, to whom we are all precious and beloved.
