Do You Believe in Magic?

"Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

I have often sat wondering about when I made the change between the way a child thinks and the way an adult does. At some point in time, my way of thinking matured.

Perhaps it's when I first discovered that Santa Claus wasn't real, that the present that were found each Christmas morning were placed their lovingly by my parents. I had often wondered when I noticed the subtle changes, the wrapping paper was the same as what we were using that year, the signatures and writing on the gift tags were in my mom's unique writing style and not to mention the year while playing hide and seek in my mom's room I stumbled into the far back end of her closet and found bags of what would soon be me and my brothers Christmas presents that year.

Yet I said nothing except to my brother of the treasured discovery in the depths of my mother's closet that year. We took everything out and looked it over with smiles but then something changed.

Even though we used to sleep with anticipation of what would await us that morning, when it came I was no longer surprised. Those same toys we discovered were the ones wrapped in Christmas paper with our names and signed by Santa. Magic gone.

I used to believe in all kinds of child-like magic. I believe that Mary Poppins really could stuff all that stuff in her carpet bag and when she opened her umbrella she could fly away. That is until I tried to fly with my own umbrella and jumping off the roof. I plummeted to the grass below off a single story home and thankfully wasn't hurt.

I believed in fairies in the garden and in the tooth fairy and Easter bunny. I believed in pots of gold if only you could find the end of the rainbow before it faded away.

I believed in magic, real magic that there wasn't some trick behind it all. And once the secrets are discovered perhaps that is when we grow into adults. When we take on responsibilities and stresses that come with growing older.

We forget to do things like playing in the puddles when it rains, getting soaked to the skin only to come inside to a warm cup of hot chocolate and some chicken noodle soup. We forget to play in the waves at the beach and try to jump each wave that laps at the sandy shore. We forget to have snow ball fights and rush out to make the first snowman when it snows enough to make such things possible.

Like the quote above I think we tend to grow older when we forget to play. Who said that adults can do this stuff any longer. Who said we can't call in sick just to enjoy a summer day and go fishing, or on a dark night in a star-filled sky, wish upon a falling star and believing with all your heart it will come true.

I think we all need to remember that simple child like faith in believing in things unseen. God calls us to be like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven and perhaps this is a great way to start. So what are you going to do today?

It's All In How You See It!

How do you see the world? Black and white, technicolor or do you see the unseen things or the things that God shows you every day that you take for granted. Take for example between reading chapters from the book Max Lucado wrote called, "Every Day Deserves a Chance", and waiting for my daughter to get out of her track and field meeting at school I watched the world for 30 minutes. OK I don't need therapy but I just paused for a moment in my day and saw things a completely different way. Oh and by the way, the book is amazing, incredible and as my daughter put it, "I love the way he writes, I oculd just eat his words!"

So here is what I wrote while waiting and I hope you enjoy it. The jet trails trace their paths along a baby blue backdrop of sky while the stark maple sentinels stand guard over the winter evening while anxious buds await the coming spring.

The silence that falls when the last car heads home before the close of the day as the setting sun and rising moon not only say, 'Good Night' but 'Good Morning' as they pass in the span of time.

Heavenly lights appear at first as a dull faded light but grow in intensity as more of them join together like friends keeping each other company. One by one the black inky darkness is pierced by yet another heavenly light until the night sky is lit up with the twinkling of millions of stars and suddenly the night moon isn't lonely anymore and can show its full face to those that look up to see it.

As the stillness of night fades from black into a midnight blue, the moon begins it's descent home again, ready to begin the process all over. Then the morning magic begins as the morning sky begins a one of a kind light show created by God. He paints a unique watercolor masterpiece each morning and evening for just a brief moment never to repeat the same painting again.

So how do you see your day?