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THE INNOCENSE OF CHILDHOOD
Alan Smith

• Sometimes I want to be a kid again. I want to go back to the time when:
  
• Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney -mo."
  
• Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming "do over!"
  
• "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
  
• Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly."
  
• Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening.
  
• Being old referred to anyone over 20.
  
• The net on a tennis court was the perfect height to play volleyball and the rules didn't matter.
  
• The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.
  
• It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.
  
• It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event.
  
• Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot.
  
• Nobody was prettier than Mom.
  
• Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
  
• It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park.
  
• Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
  
• Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare."
  
• Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute ads for action figures.
  
• "Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense.
  
• Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.
  
• The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
  
• War was a card game.
  
• Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
  
• Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.
  
• Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin.
  
• Older siblings were the worst tormentors but also the fiercest protectors.
  (author unknown)
  

There's an innocence about childhood. As we grow older, we lose that innocence and life becomes more complicated. Like Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, we all live out in our own lives what it means to have sin affect our relationship with God and our relationship with one another.

"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked..."       (Genesis 3:6-7a)

Taking the fruit of a tree giving us more knowledge isn't as wonderful as we think it will be. As we grow older, we know more and more, but often find ourselves wishing that we were younger when we didn't know nearly as much. We can never regain that innocence, but thank God we can find forgiveness!

. . . . Have a great day!