Taking a group of kids skating always makes me smile. You just never know how a child is going to react the first time they strap wheels to their feet and give it a try. I spent the last day of mini-Methodists in the middle of a skating rink realizing that there are lessons to be learned from the kids that come on Wednesdays.
The younger girl with the long brown hair, this is her first time to put on skates. I found her clinging to the wall like her life depended on it. I offered her my help and we started toward the pizza. She's grabbing me and groaning loudly. I laugh but she's not having any of it...those skates came off quickly.
Some skate backwards...some go waaaay to fast...some spend more time on their back sides then on their feet. Two continue to use the wall as a way to stop. One I have known since she was born can't seem to stay up. I walk over to her after a spill and she is studying her skate. What's the deal I ask, why can't you stay on your feet? She blames it on the skates...goes to get a new pair and puts them on. And still she falls and it is really not about the skates at all.
I am so much like these young skaters. In some ways I would rather not try anything new at all. Shoes without wheels are just fine for me. Oh I might try but if it is not easy enough and I find myself clinging to a wall for dear life...giving up is safer.
There are the times I find myself going backwards. Others I am speeding through life without taking the time to talk to those around me, to invest in what really matters. I certainly fall more than I stand and I would like to put the blame on something else rather than consider I might be the reason I keep falling.
Amidst all this skating there is one that reminds me of the best way. She rounds the corner slowly with her curls waving behind her and looks at me. You can tell she is new at this, unsteady, very cautious. She's focused on the task...not really worried about keeping up with the others. She stands tall continuing to move forward little by little. Her face is serene even confident that with each time around she is learning and growing and getting better at this. I glance around the room on the final song. A sea of young faces and there she is skating like she's been doing this a while. Our eyes meet and she smiles. After all have gone home and the house is quiet I begin to pray...
Lord, help me to be like her in life. Show me how to take the corners slowly and keep at it. To try something new even when I am unsteady and scared. Teach me to focus on you and not others around me. May I be confident in your power to accomplish that which I do not know how to do realizing that little by little I am learning and growing. Thank you Lord, for a wonderful year at mini-Methodists, for children and their families, for the volunteers who came each week...for using them to teach me more than I could teach them. Amen
