The older I get, the more I realize how the simple truths of life are all around us, We just need to take the time to really watch and listen.
The following autumn thoughts came to me some years ago in a previous parish. I had a wonderful office window that allowed me to look out on our grassy school playground.
What I saw was a vision of the heavenly beauty God put into young boys and girls. Their gaiety and innocence are a prelude to the power of their femininity and masculinity.
The girls at this stage seemed further along in incorporating their basic instincts into a happy self acceptance. The boys, as usual, were a comic mix of energy, bluster and restlessness.
What a wonderful comedy we are. See what you think.
These warm days of autumn have been wonderful, haven’t they?! I’ve had a chance to play a round of golf with old friends, take a walk with my Godson, Joseph, and today I had the pleasure of watching the fifth graders take their recess outside my window. What an event!!
First out the school doors were the boys. They were insane. Running, yelling, and arms waving, they dashed across Rogers Pkwy. Reaching the yard, they immediately began chasing each other, throwing stuff and banging into tree trunks.
Then came the girls. Walking calmly together (some lifted their feet in that happy walk we call a “skip”), they chatted and laughed as they made their way to-ward the leafy part of the yard. Before long they were all scooping leaves up into their arms and making a big brown pile there in the middle of the yard. (I was later told they were burying one of the boys).
Suddenly, the boys caught sight of the sizeable pile of leaves the girls had made, and apparently realizing that they were onto something much more fun…they decide to raid the girls. Swooping down from every direction, the boys ran through the pile of leaves, kicking them high and wide. Soon the pile was flattened.
What do you think the girls did? (This is the part that really got me). They laughed. They seemed to like these silly boys and their rude visit. There was that sweetness in them that one day makes them loving wives and mothers; a sweetness that someday will waken a man to his best self.
At this point the children were instructed to move to the other side of the yard…the part that had been cleaned of leaves to provide a place for recess. The boys, of course, went charging and yelling to the new field of play. The girls were a little delayed in coming – you see they wanted to bring the leaves!!! Each brought an armful.
Little girls and little boys. How wonderful God is! Let this be a reminder to you in the time of worry and uncertainty, human beings are “little less than gods” (Ps.8), if given a chance to grow, if given the experience of being loved. That’s where we come in.
Share God’s love,
Fr. Tim
