An overcast sky hung over me this morning pouring out rain from my door to my grandchildren’s door. When I left Roanoke my yard was full of finches and cardinals. Bet the heavy rain stopped the finches’ quarrels. I could’ve studied the colors of the overcast sky and watched for birds but I had to concentrate on the road. Was so glad when I arrived at my destination. Guess I’m getting old but I don’t think I’m driving any where in heavy rain anymore. It was a downpour most of the way. Was so thankful to see my daughter-in-law on the front porch steps to welcome me in out of the rain.

On the way up I thought about my childhood and how we played and amused ourselves. One of my blogging friends wrote about playing with small grocery bags, blowing up the little brown bags and slapping them against their palms to make them pop. She writes, “Even now sometimes when I’m 60 going on 6, and childhood memories tumble into mind, I cannot resist doing it…Bammm! A most satisfying explosion, specially gleeful if we managed to startle unsuspecting adults.”

My favorite childhood playing time before I discovered skates and stilts and unicycles was making mud pies on an old grill grate I’d center over a couple of bricks. I’d make little mud pies and cakes, sprinkling the tops with shavings from our pencil sharpener, pretending the shavings were coconut icing. I got in trouble once for digging up dirt for my cakes with a sterling silver spoon I found in the dining room. Once I quit mud pie cooking and playing in our sand pile, I was putting cards on my bike spokes with clothes pins and revving the engine on my motorcycle sounding bike.

My friends and I skated and rode bikes, put grass blades between our thumbs and blew through them to make a whistle. My daddy brought a tractor rake tire home from the farm and I’d sit on it on top of my skateboard, speeding down my grandmother’s driveway. My brothers made a go cart with lawn mower tires and a rope to steer. We’d sit on a piece of wax paper and zoom down our tall metal sliding board. We built houses with a deck of cards, played Slap Jack, Old Maids and Go Fishing. We’d sell coat hangers to the dry cleaners and return empty glass Coke bottles to the grocery store for money to buy a Coke and candy bar. And we spent hours on the creek bank behind my house looking for crawdads and salamanders, catching poison ivy on our rambles. We were always outside.

When my mother-in-law was a child, she and her cousin Virginia would cut paper dolls from the pages of the Sear’s Catalog. They would have all their paper dolls fixed just right and “it never failed,” she’d say that Virginia’s sister Bessie would run in the room yelling, “Tornado,” blowing their paper dolls all over the room. Mrs. Saunders was always angry about the tornado named Bessie.

I wonder what Jesus played with? Did Joseph carve Jesus some beautiful wooden animals, a whistle, or some spinning tops? Research says Jesus might have played catch with a leather ball or seeds pods or played jacks and hopscotch. Biblical scripture in Zechariah 8, speaking of Jerusalem being called the faithful city, says, “And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.” The Gospel of Luke mentions children dancing and playing flutes in the marketplace.

Ran across this beautiful short poem, maybe a prayer, titled The Birds by Hellaire Belloc about Jesus and the angels bringing him toys of gold. “When Jesus Christ was four years old the angels brought Him toys of gold, which no man ever had bought or sold. And yet with these He would not play. He made Him small fowl out of clay, and blessed them till they flew away: Tu creasti Domine Jesus Christ, thou child so wise, bless mine hands and fill mine eyes, and bring my soul to Paradise.”

I think God wants us to enjoy playing in his wondrous creation. He certainly gave us a sense of humor and the gifts of laughter. And think what fun he had as he chose the colors of the butterflies’ wings and put the curl in the squirrel’s tail. Psalm 118:24 reads, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” God is present and involved in every moment of our lives, even when we’re at play.

“To dance in the rain, to swim in the sea, to walk through the forest — these are all acts of worship, a joyful play within the grand tapestry of God’s creation.” — Unknown