"Swinging Free"

Tonight we took our kids to the park and to watch our friends play softball. Of course the kids wanted to play on the playground equipment rather than stand around and watch the adults try to hit the softball! Both of my kids like to swing but Austin especially enjoys it. As I was pushing him tonight, I was transported back in time, to when my parents used to take me to the "duck pond", a park in the town of Paradise, Ca., where we used to live. What fun I had swinging on those warm summer evenings. There are no words to describe the feeling of the wind blowing through your hair as you try and pump your legs hard so that you are going the highest. But the best feeling of all, is freedom. Because as kid you don't have a care in the world, you are just enjoying the moment. What incredible memories! I just wish as an adult I could go swinging more often, to be able to let the cares of life fade away. O what freedom that would be!!

I'm constantly amazed at the memories that come back to me, now that I'm a parent. It's kind of neat to realize that in the midst of doing everyday stuff, and like making that spontaneous trip to the park tonight, I'm helping my kids to make special memories of their very own. I hope that they can enjoy theirs as much as I enjoy mine.

Now I suppose you are wondering how in the world I'm going to put a spiritual application to "swinging". (I was actually wondering that myself.) I guess my thoughts are just focused on being free from the cares of life. I won't go in to a lot of detail, but the last several days I've been struggling a lot with life in general. There are things I go through (like depression) and I just wish that I could be free from all the negative thoughts that often take over my mind. But I realize that in the midst of this there is a different type of freedom, than what I am seeking. My freedom comes from knowing that God is control of my life and truly cares about me. I also have freedom knowing that I can trust His Son, because He has been there, and knows exactly what I'm going through. I will leave you with a couple of verses, that have become very special to me in the last several days.

"Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV