Getting Mucky....

We arrived at the school...the children eagerly anticipating the day's activity. Parents waited outside while the children received last minute instructions from their teachers. Finally we were ready to depart. The children's faces clearly demonstrated the depth of excitement welling inside of each one of these wide eyed 4 year olds. We all piled into cars and headed off for our destination...."The Pumpkin Patch"!

The most fascinating part of the experience for me was observing the children as they related to each opportunity in amazingly diverse ways. From the children who eagerly ran up to the Pumpkin and Corn mascots...to the children who cowered behind their parents in absolute terror of these "foreign creatures". To the children who quickly grabbed their apple from the bin without a moment of thought...to those who carefully inspected several apples before settling on the "perfect apple". As we departed on our hayride to the pumpkin patch we listened to many classic favourite "hayride songs"...some of the children sang along...others just sat back and enjoyed listening to the sounds that others were making...of course the all time favourite for all the children appeared to be "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".

Tonight I sit here reflecting on the outing at the pumpkin patch and I am thinking about the experience of being in the patch itself...where each child was searching for their perfect pumpkin to take home...of course all the pumpkins were much too big for the children to carry on their own, so supportive adults and parents followed along ready to place that treasured pumpkin into the bright orange bag. The patch was very mucky and everyone had to tread carefully to avoid slipping. Some children embraced the muck and jumped up and down in it (in fact even tried to "skate" on it)...without any sense of fear that they could fall flat on their bottom into the muck. Others cautiously treaded, trying ever so carefully to avoid contact with the muck as much as possible...in fact so much so that they had supportive adults turn the pumpkins around as they carefully inspected them without touching their mucky sides...and at some points a few even had an adult carry them through the muck. Most of the children fell somewhere in the middle...willing to get a little mucky...but not willing to fully embrace it!

Thinking about this mucky pumpkin patch and each of the children's unique approach to it, brings about thoughts regarding the journey of life..."the dance of life"....Our journeys are often filled with challenges and facing those challenges can often be mucky and truly to get to the root of those challenges we often need to get VERY mucky. Some of us will fully embrace the muck with sheer determination to get through it without falling flat on our bottom...and should we fall flat on our bottom we will pick our mucky selves up and continue facing the challenges with the same vigor. Others of us will do everything possible to avoid the muck and will tailor our lives to suit this desire to not get mucky. And many of us will find a balance between the two...at times embracing the muck, while remaining slightly cautious (if not skeptical at times) and other times choosing to avoid the muck.

So my friends... however you choose to travel through your journey..."the dance of life"...may you have a good pair of rubber boots should you need to face the muck!!