One of our grandson’s loved magic of all kinds. His skills would shine with a deck of cards in his hands.
One fourth of July, the grandson’s put on an amazing firework show for us. There were things spinning, colors flying, blinding smoke, and sparks popped all around the street. Between the ooh’s and awes, there was giggling and fun chatter. The younger grandson lit a firework called military fog. He got so excited, he ran into the ‘fog’ and completely disappeared! A split second later, he ran out of the fog FULL speed, completely blind as to where he was and what was around him and smashed full force into the mailbox that was cemented firmly in the ground. One minute we could only hear him in the smokey fog, the next minute he was on the ground with his feet in the air. That mailbox had knocked the air our of him, and left a few bruises on his chest, knee, and leg. After the scare of the collision subsided and we confirmed that nothing was broken, I could not help but laugh. Uncontrollably laugh! I ran in the house to get him a few icepacks for him and laughed…I laughed until I cried. I laughed until my sides hurt. Several minutes later I tried to compose myself so I could deliver the icepacks. As I walked closer to the moaning crumpled body in the chair at the end of the driveway, I could not help but burst into laughter. As I laughed, everyone else began to giggle to… everyone except our little guy that in a puff of smoke, had taken on a mailbox and lost. When we asked him what he was thinking, he explained that like a magician, he wanted to disappear and reappear in a cloud of smoke! He didn’t count on not being able to see and get confused as to where he was headed. We were glad that he was finally able to laugh at what had happened that day in the blinding smoke.
Sometimes it is hard to ‘see through the fog’ in life where we are, and where we need to go. We get confused about all kinds of things… where do I go to school? Do I go back to school? How can I make my relationships work? Where should I/we live? What car to buy? Should I change my career? I think most of us can look back at times in our lives that we were in a fog, in the smoke, and could not figure out which way to turn, and where to go. I like the Message translation of this verse:
“We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!” 1 Corinthians 13:12
My grandson wanted to disappear and reappear like magic, but he was in for a rude awakening. I was really proud of him; he ran around in the fog, got hurt, but then was able to laugh with all of us about things when it was over. It is how we handle the ‘bumps’ in our lives that make us who we are. My grandson is building character, one bump and bruise at a time. He brings a smile to my face!
