Childhood as a Classroom
Inside of each of us is our little boy or girl self. They often come out through the portal of our memory to play in the realm of our recall. Indulge my little boy self a moment to reflect.
The school was sponsoring an outdoor re-enactment to raise funds. It was the Pied Piper of Hamelin. My older brother was cast and costumed to be a rat. On the day of the big event he broke his collarbone. The cast needed a replacement. I fit his costume and some said the role. Thus began my short lived acting career.
The set included tables with long table cloths that overhung to the ground on all sides. Darrel Tate, my fellow rat, and I were under a table awaiting our big moment which involved coming out on cue. When the piper came around the corner of the building playing the clarinet, no one played a flute, we were to scamper out and follow him to the back of the campus. There was no river, so we were to jump into the ditch.
The lilting notes of the clarinet filled the air and rats ran out from beneath tables as prompted. Two bewildered mothers didn’t see their little rats. Finally my mom raised the table cloth and there sat my older friend, Darrel, and me staring at each other. Darrel’s mother had told him to watch the little Price boy and to come out when he did. Guess what, my mom said, watch the little Tate boy and come out when he comes out. Thus, the stalemate. Following a friendly nudge by our mom’s we scampered out and caught up with the rat pack just in time to jump in the ditch. All’s well that ends well.
Subconsciously, that experience has lived with me as a motivating influence to know life’s cues and act timely, understand your role, and act independently responsibly.
Learn the wisdom of the great minds of Bible characters who’ve been there, and be a living demonstration of what it means to take responsibility for your actions. Your life takes meaning when you take responsibility for it.
Solomon wisely cautioned against inaction: “I observed and took it to heart; I looked and received instruction: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.…” (Proverbs 24: 33) Lethargy is a bandit robbing us of opportunities.
Abraham Lincoln said, “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”
Action requires faith in God and trust in His word to accomplish great things for the kingdom. The faint-hearted will always struggle with taking action. “Git ‘er Done” is more than a comic line, it is a launch pad for faith/acts.
Bookmark that in your memory.