Lessons From an Amusement Park
Recently I spent a day at an amusement park and learned (or reinforced) a couple important lessons about my relationship with God.
#1 I've always wondered why roller coasters don't scare me at all.
I think this trip really helped me figure things out.
Now, I would probably have a lot of trouble doing an activity like cliff diving, or any such activity where if I veer a little too much to one side I might break a leg, or if I turn my body just a bit the wrong way I might have the wind knocked out of me.
But not so a roller coaster.
It doesn't matter how tall or long it is.
It doesn't matter how quick it is or how rapidly it accelerates.
It doesn't matter how many flips there are or how much time you spend upside down.
When it's over you always end exactly where you started, strapped in the same way you were a few moments ago.
I have nothing to fear thanks to those wonderful straps.
I think of those straps as a great analogy to my relationship with God.
So long as one's faith is powerful, your life might be filled with flips and turns, and sometimes you might want things to slow down or even to get off, but when it's all said and done you are 100% positive He was looking out for you the whole time, and in the grand scheme of things there really is nothing to worry about.
#2 However: On a more unhappy note, something I saw at the park really upset me terribly.
I couldn't believe how many people rudely and unthinkingly pushed past me to get ahead in line.
The explanation was always the same: "My friends are way ahead of me in line, and invited me to join them.
" I am very interested to hear if there's anyone in the world who could successfully justify such a claim, because as of now all I can see is this is a reflection of a horrible character trait, and everyone who justifies it is just fooling themselves into thinking there's an acceptable explanation.
We learn in Pirkei Avot (Chapters of our Fathers) that a wicked person is defined as one who says: "Sheli sheli, v'shelcha sheli.
" - "What's mine is mine, and what's your's is mine.
" As far as I'm concerned anyone who pushes ahead to the front of the line to save themselves 20 minutes, and in turn makes many, many people's 45 minute wait turn into a 50 minute one, might as well look every one of them in the face and say: "I'm important.
You're not.
My time is precious.
Yours isn't.
Everything in the world is mine for the taking.
You remain nothing to me.
" We are judged in this world by how we relate to other people.
Unfortunately so many people selfishly just enter into the world and step on anything and everything in their paths to get what they feel like they deserve.
There are so many loftier goals.
I watched as another girl adamantly refused to cut to the section of the line pretty much right ahead of her.
The girl standing right in front of me was insisting her friend come.
But she wouldn't come.
Why not? Because she knew in her heart it was wrong.
Somebody had raised her correctly.
Thank God for the rude and obnoxious among us.
Why? Only in darkness can you see the stars...
#1 I've always wondered why roller coasters don't scare me at all.
I think this trip really helped me figure things out.
Now, I would probably have a lot of trouble doing an activity like cliff diving, or any such activity where if I veer a little too much to one side I might break a leg, or if I turn my body just a bit the wrong way I might have the wind knocked out of me.
But not so a roller coaster.
It doesn't matter how tall or long it is.
It doesn't matter how quick it is or how rapidly it accelerates.
It doesn't matter how many flips there are or how much time you spend upside down.
When it's over you always end exactly where you started, strapped in the same way you were a few moments ago.
I have nothing to fear thanks to those wonderful straps.
I think of those straps as a great analogy to my relationship with God.
So long as one's faith is powerful, your life might be filled with flips and turns, and sometimes you might want things to slow down or even to get off, but when it's all said and done you are 100% positive He was looking out for you the whole time, and in the grand scheme of things there really is nothing to worry about.
#2 However: On a more unhappy note, something I saw at the park really upset me terribly.
I couldn't believe how many people rudely and unthinkingly pushed past me to get ahead in line.
The explanation was always the same: "My friends are way ahead of me in line, and invited me to join them.
" I am very interested to hear if there's anyone in the world who could successfully justify such a claim, because as of now all I can see is this is a reflection of a horrible character trait, and everyone who justifies it is just fooling themselves into thinking there's an acceptable explanation.
We learn in Pirkei Avot (Chapters of our Fathers) that a wicked person is defined as one who says: "Sheli sheli, v'shelcha sheli.
" - "What's mine is mine, and what's your's is mine.
" As far as I'm concerned anyone who pushes ahead to the front of the line to save themselves 20 minutes, and in turn makes many, many people's 45 minute wait turn into a 50 minute one, might as well look every one of them in the face and say: "I'm important.
You're not.
My time is precious.
Yours isn't.
Everything in the world is mine for the taking.
You remain nothing to me.
" We are judged in this world by how we relate to other people.
Unfortunately so many people selfishly just enter into the world and step on anything and everything in their paths to get what they feel like they deserve.
There are so many loftier goals.
I watched as another girl adamantly refused to cut to the section of the line pretty much right ahead of her.
The girl standing right in front of me was insisting her friend come.
But she wouldn't come.
Why not? Because she knew in her heart it was wrong.
Somebody had raised her correctly.
Thank God for the rude and obnoxious among us.
Why? Only in darkness can you see the stars...
Source...