"Push Me, Daddy"

Most of us can remember, at least vaguely, being a child.  We remember the good and the bad, of course, and many of us remember being on a playground, sitting still on a hanging swing, going nowhere.

"Push me, Daddy."

At first we didn't know how to make the swing go -- or, at least, how to keep it going.  We could push ourselves back, until only our toes touched the ground, and then we would pick up our legs and swing forward.  We could get a few decent swings from our own momentum, but soon we slowed to a stop.

The same is true for many of us in our faith.  We get fired up about God for one reason or another and we run off to change the world.  But, then, life gets in the way.  We go about our daily lives and, as we work or play or shop or cook or drive or whatever it is we each do, soon that fire has died because our own momentum is never enough to keep us going.  We need that constant push to reach ever higher.

"Push me, Daddy."

But we are no longer that child on the swing.  We are adults, and our lives are complex, complicated and move so quickly that it's hard enough most days just maintaining a grip on the speeding car's bumper, trying desperately not to be left in the dust.  We live life chasing it rather than making life come to us.  We rely on our own devices to earn a living, find a spouse, buy a home and raise a family.  We feel like we don't have the time or the strength to do better than status quo.

"Push me, Daddy."

Life can be better than that, though.  There is so much more to it.  And, even as adults, we can get that constant push to improve, to reach the sky and beyond, to be better than this world.  God our Father is standing right behind you.  Just ask.

"Push me, Daddy."