An Afternoon at the Park

Here’s an old journal from a couple of years ago that I found and since I’m the boss here, I thought I would share it. Enjoy.

The other evening Keely, Will and I went walking in our neighborhood. Actually, Keely and I did the walking and Prince William rode in his chariot, I mean stroller. We get up the road a piece and Keely, who is pushing the stroller, takes a hard right towards the neighborhood playground. “What are you doing, Keely?” I ask, because you see, I thought we were walking for exercise. “Will likes the playground.” Well then, by all means, I’m willing to sacrifice my exercise and efforts at healthy living for Prince Will’s good pleasure. So, off to the playground we go. I quickly discover that Will loves the tube slide and soon learn that he could easily do it all day and night and never grow weary of it. At first, big sis, Keely is helping him in the slide, but after a while he’s on his own. Up the stairs, in the slide and down, weeeeeeeee! Then back around to do it all over again. Keely is off to conquer the monkey bars. I’m thinking, this beats walking. Occasionally, Will stops to look up and stare at the top of a very tall tree because a bird is soloing an audition for Prince Williams’ royal court. He seems impressed. He mumbles something in his baby talk, but I think he says, “Yo, dawg, not your best performance, but still solid. A little pitch problem at first, but you worked it out in the end. Good song choice.” 

Meanwhile, Keely is hanging by the monkey bars, her grip slipping and in desperation asks, “Dad, what do I do now?” “You have to let go with one hand, reach out and grab the other bar.” Pretty simple concept, I thought. Upon reflection, and I do that a lot, letting go is not always the easy thing to do. But just before Keely lost her grip, she reached out with her right hand, grabbed the next bar and then her left hand quickly followed. She made it! Then she fell. However let’s focus on the positive. She made it! Yes, only one rung on the monkey bars, but in doing so she beat back her fear of letting go. Reflecting even more, I learned an important lesson from my young daughter. How did she go about achieving this major victory? She asked her father for help. After taking that hard right, she asked if I would help her with the monkey bars. Ultimately, I didn’t do anything but stand close by, instruct and encourage, yet that is all she needed. Just to know that her father was there for her. She asked her father for help. That’s it. That’s the lesson. We all have a Father, our Creator, who is always standing ready waiting for us to ask Him for help on our own monkey bars or better yet, help with the monkey on our backs. Thankfully, He’s there for us so often when we don’t ask, because He knows we’re stubborn and have a hard time surrendering control. But don’t you think it pleases His heart when we do ask for help, when we admit to ourselves and Him that we still need Him? Of course it does.

So, it’s getting dark about this time and the bird is about to drive me nuts. Besides, I think I remember a carton of chocolate ice cream in the freezer. I tell Will that he can go once more down the slide and then we have to go. He nodded his approval. When his flight landed for the last time, I say, “Will, let’s go. Do you want to go see Mommy?” He didn’t look back, nod or grunt. No questions asked, no sad face, no pleading for one more time. He bolted towards the sidewalk where his stroller was parked. He reached up, pulled the stroller down to its hind two wheels and took off running with it down the sidewalk. Keely and I raced to catch up. I got my exercise in after all. He almost beat us to the intersection of the sidewalk and without any instructions, he knew to turn left. Smart kid. I might want to have his DNA tested. But this two year old taught me a lesson. My second for the evening. My brain hurt. Yes, obviously he loves his Mommy. Who doesn’t? But the more subtle lesson here is that when his father(assumption made without the benefit of a DNA test) gave him a command, he heard it and obeyed, without question, doubt or complaints. He was eager to please his father. Can we all say that? 

Stay with me here. I am connecting the dots. First lesson—ask your Father for help. Second lesson—listen and do what He says. Psalm 5:3 says, “In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” 

I think there is a book entitled something like, Everything I Ever Learned I Learned In Kindergarten. Well, almost 11 years into parenthood, I don’t think I ever really learned anything that matters until I became a daddy. And the first thing I learned was how much I didn’t know.