The Swing

He was gently swinging at the end of the ropes.
Eyes shut, relaxed and drifting, he listened to the murmur of
the breeze that sang a lullaby as it swayed him back and forth.
And minutes floated away to the cadence of the swing.

So, Lord, I walk through the city as through a vast county fair,
and see men drifting, blown by the breezes of life.
Some smile, and yield to passing pleasures,
Others with taut faces curse the wind that shakes them
and knocks them into one another.

Lord, I want them to STAND up on their swings,
I want them to grasp the cord that you hold out to them,
I want them to harden their muscles and brace their vigorous
bodies, and STAMP on their lives the direction they have chosen,

For you do not want your sons to drift, but to LIVE!
~ Michel Quoist

I love this prayer - and for some reason I feel that I understand it better after a day on Mt. Elgon in Uganda. A sweet friend, Adam, lost his life there doing what he had found to do - LIVE. So, it was hard to understand or make sense of his death - it wasn't alright. And still, three years later it was/is hard to believe.

I know this - Adam really did "grasp the cord that was held out to him" ... and he did STAMP on his life the direction he had chosen. He LIVED. He lived in Jesus' name.

As Frederick Buechner says "We find by losing. We hold fast by letting go. We become something new by ceasing to be something old. This seems to be close to the heart of that mystery. I know no more now than I ever did about the far side of death as the last letting-go of all, but I begin to know that I do not need to know and that I do not need to be afraid of not knowing. God knows. That is all that matters."

So what does that mean for me? What am I finding? It means that I went to Uganda! It means that I want to lay down my "old self" and become something "new". I want to LIVE the way Adam taught me in his short life. I am finding that renewing my friendship with Ben (one of Adams brothers) is important because Ben has much to teach me. I am finding new friends and relationships that I never expected because I'm trying to grasp the cord held out to me. It means I am trying to lay down my life and be led into a new one - even though I can't see that far ahead. Thanks Adam! May we all find a way to "swing and live"