It's lost. Yet, no one is aware of it. What has been lost today? Pretending is a lost art. Even our children don't know how to pretend.
Growing up I cut paper dolls out of catalogs; I made mud pies and left them in the sun to cook; I created playhouses from old boards and sticks.
I can't remember seeing a child do this recently. Maybe it's because there is no need to pretend anymore. They have all the real things...the real dolls, the real ovens, the real playhouses.
But there are some things about childhood that have not changed. The innocent conversations of children are still delightful to me. Allow me to share with you some conversations by children from the book, "A Monster is Bigger than 9". From here on, I do not take credit for any words surrounded by quotation marks. They are from this book.
Listen carefully to the first conversation. Let's pretend you like me, okay. If you do we can go tap dance in my sandbox.
Would you agree there are some folks we just don't want to play in the sandbox with? On the other hand, we might be identified as the one whom others have to pretend to like. Maybe we never get invited to put on our dancing shoes because we're so bossy and demanding around our friends. For some this is also true in their relationship to God. They want to serve Him, but only in a bossy, advisory position.
Has a child ever said about you,"She screamed me over?" Now that's hard to recover from. Out of control anger is frightening and deadly even to adults. It's frightening also because the person who angers you controls you.
The next pretending thought goes like this, "Let's pretend we're having fun. We can do this when you draw something and I'll say it's good even though it isn't."
Is there something in your life where you never have to pretend having fun? You can say it's good and it really is good. This time of the year one good thing I am thankful for is my five grandchildren. I can best describe them by using a scripture found in 1 Chronicles 9:33. "And these are the singers; they were employed in the good work of singing night and day."
One final thought from our book, "When I grow up I'm going to be an artist. Then I will draw so many pictures I won't be afraid of the dark anymore."
