“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens… a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4
Someone recently asked me what I do for fun. When pressed, I had to admit that I could go on forever telling myself that I’ll make time for fun when I have more time. When will that be? I took the point to heart.
Life is short and there’s more to it than doing my duty. I have the responsibility part down; I need to learn to take time to enjoy it too. Fun isn’t so much a thing you do as an attitude you have. So forget the plans for tomorrow, which may never come. The fun should start today. All I had to do was look for my moment. It came quicker than I expected.
Going home from an appointment in the city, I took the train to the station where I had parked my car. It was the middle of a workday and very few people were onboard. After several stops, I looked around and realized that I was the only one in my train car.
I’m all by myself here, I thought. How rare is that? I suddenly felt a great sense of freedom. I could do anything I wanted and no one would know. I could jump up and down, scream, run around, anything. Of course, I’m a dignified adult so I wouldn’t do anything like that. Would I?
I began eyeing the poles. I was listening to music on my IPod and thinking how fun it would be to dance. I could dance around those poles. No! That would be crazy…silly. What if someone saw me?! So what if they did??? Then I decided this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I just could not let pass by.
What the hell, I thought, as I jumped up from my seat and began to dance and swing around those poles. Weeee!! WooHoo!!! I actually yelled at the top of my lungs. Now this is fun! I even swung from the ceiling poles like a kid on the monkey bars, touching them with my feet.
By the time the train arrived at my stop, I was feeling as free and light as a bird. There’s something very liberating about stepping outside the confines of society and letting loose. When the door opened, I was grinning from ear to ear, very amused by my little secret.
If only you knew what I was just doing, I thought at the passersby. I caught people looking at me, puzzled by my huge smile. I imagined they were wondering what I found so funny or if maybe I was just plain nuts. Maybe they would be right. Some even smiled back, my glee contagious.
I practically skipped all the way to my car. I had a wonderful drive home. Thank you, Lord, I reflected, for reminding me how to be a kid again and take pleasure in the simplest things in life.
I think Jesus was really onto something when He said we need to receive the Kingdom of Heaven like a little child. How very much we miss when we grow up and lose our innocent pleasure at the wonder of life.
Well, I, for one, don’t want to take another moment of it for granted. So, when I get the chance, I’ll dance!