Childlike Faith

It is not very often that it snows in Iowa Park, TX.  The stars were, apparently, aligned perfectly this year because the white flakes came down on Christmas day and did not stop until half a foot was covering the ground.  It is still a winter wonderland outside and I have woken each morning smiling like an idiot when I see the white stuff.

One of my gifts this year was a french coffee press.  If you have ever drank coffee from a press, then you should know that the coffee is Strong with a capital s.  Yesterday morning I made coffee with my new press and was wired for the remainder of the day.  Because of this over abundance of energy, I decided to go on a run...through the snow and ice.

For the past several years, I have had to play it safe.  I would never have gone on a run with ice and snow for fear of falling and breaking something.  I would have stayed in and run on a treadmill.  I hate the treadmill.  If I slipped and fell on ice and broke something, then I would not be able to compete in track and the renewal of my scholarship would be hanging over my head.  I was not as carefree then and fun came at a price.  But now, there is not scholarship, there is no coach I have to please, and I do not have an upcoming race.  I am carefree.

The roads in Iowa Park are still a bit sketchy and quite icy, but yesterday was too beautiful to not run.  It was 25 degrees, sunny, and no wind whatsoever.  I left my house and hopped from small patch of asphalt to small patch of asphalt.  Despite my hopping technique, I slipped a total of 3 times before I had even made it 200 meters.  I decided that running on the grass in people's yards would be my safest bet for a while.  I did this until I reached some of the old alleyways in town.  The alleyways are dirt and grass here and I knew no ice patches would be underneath.  The alleyways proved to be challenging and extremely entertaining.  Even though it had only snowed half a foot, the snow drifts in places were much higher and they were definitely much higher in the alleyways.  It felt like I was doing high knees the entire time but no matter how tired I was getting, I didn't care.  I was having the time of my life and smiling like a kid in a candy store.  I got out of the alleyways and reached Gordon Lake.  There is a mile path around the lake and some parts were melted but others were solid ice.  I slipped about 37 times at the lake and half the fun of this was trying to not fall flat on my face (which I did not).  I got back to the alleyways and ran through foot high snow again because, why not?  It was fun.  No matter how many times I slipped or how hard it was to run through high snow, I was having fun.  I felt like a kid romping around in the snow without a care in the world.  Then a thought hit me, what I was feeling is what childlike faith should feel like: free.  I was happy and I was free.

To me, childlike faith is not letting the stresses and circumstances of this world effect you.  Most children have no worries and no stress.  Their goal in life is to make any situation a fun one.  They have an incredible imagination and can play anywhere, at anytime, with anything or anyone.  Children are carefree and they have fun.  Childlike faith, to me, is being able to choose joy at anytime, anywhere, with anything or anyone.  This type of faith lets stress, worry, anxiety and fear roll away without a second glance.

Go with me for a minute, think of your life here on earth as my run yesterday.  There was a definite danger in what I was doing.  I was slipping on ice, I was traversing through deep snow, but there were also a few easy places to navigate.  It could have been very easy for me to get annoyed or frustrated with my run but instead I chose joy and I chose to have fun.  Life is full of easy places to navigate, it is full of places where we have the potential to slip and fall, and it also has places a foot deep with snow that may take more time to get through.  You can get frustrated with life or you can choose joy and choose to have a childlike faith through it.  You have the ability choose how you will walk through this life.  Either you choose to let things affect you and get frustrated or you can choose to take what comes at you like a child and move forward with a smile on your face.  It's your choice.  What will it be?

Kelsey J.