cowboy hats and dress up shoes

Imagination is a wonderful thing! Where did mine go? I wonder....I wonder....

I was sitting in the back seat of the van with the kids the other day. If you have never done this with your kids, I recommend that you do. It allows for a whole new perspective.

So there I was, wedged between a three and a four year old. Caleb has taken to bringing an old coffee tin of toys wherever he goes - today, it was a bunch of match box cars, superman and Buzz Lightyear. He was playing and having a great time and then looked at me with those big blue eyes and said "Mommy, why don't you play with toys?" Hmmm....good question.

My kids can take anything and turn it into something cool. Macey puts on a pair of purple high heels and is a princess, Caleb can take a cowboy hat and goggles and is an outer-space creature, Kylie can turn a box, big or small, into almost anything. Imagination is an amazing thing!!!

At what point did it become "un-cool" to play with toys? When did dress up get replaced by designer jeans and cowboy replaced with the newest hair style? Granted, it may be silly and a bit childish for an adult to play with toys, but aren't we supposed to be childish to a certain extent? I mean, if we think about it, how much do we limit our freedom and potential in the Spirit because of what we think others expect or out of a fear of looking foolish? I remember a great Someone saying some time ago that foolishness and child-likeness is actually a key to the kingdom!

What if the freedom that we are glimpsing, merely glimpsing, right now is just a shadow of what is to come. What would our church, our homes, our lives look like if we just let go - if we let our imagination go a bit farther than normal....? It seems I could do with a bit more of the cowboy hat and dress up shoes mentality.