June 15, 2009
Safe n' Sound
Once when I had nursery duty I looked out the window and there, dangling from the tree were leaves, feet and legs. Hanging in the high branches was a group of unsupervised preschoolers having a grand time. Plucking the last one out of the tree I breathed a sigh of relief and borrowed a quote from Jesus. “…I have not lost one of those you gave me.”John 18:9b NIV
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Gail;
-----Safety and security takes its first hit when you get out of bed. Well, for that matter, maybe it’s even a bit reduced in bed. I woke up one morning with a spider bite on my stomach. That thing developed an infection pocket the size of an egg yoke, and draining it was ghastly. But we all must get up in the morning and face more danger.
-----I was a shy child, in many ways. There were many things I would not risk to others knowing about my family life. So I followed my fears and learned reclusive ways. By mid-life, I still could not figure out how people earned enough money to buy nice homes and fancy new vehicles. But as my social barriers melted I began to realize that opportunities are mixed amongst ample risks, and if one is not willing to enter the jungle of risks, his life will languish from scant opportunity.
-----Now days, everything is about reducing risk. Our lives have become full of risk czars, the government is legislating us into prison with multitudes of safety laws, insurance companies will wet their britches over trampolines and swimming pools, non-profit organizations examine life through a microscope and wail warnings to the public over the slightest flaws they find, and even the amply warned public reverberates all these siren calls in fearful distress. But the fact remains, risk is like spiders, it can not be eliminated, and it will be there even when you think the room has been bug-bombed and sanitized.
-----The best we can do is be smart about what we do. It was certainly smart of you to pluck the preschoolers from the tree, reducing their risk a little and the nursery’s risk a lot. But sooner or later a child must enter the jungle, or the only opportunities he will have will be the strays that wander out of the woods. Eventually it will be more important to teach a child how to climb the tree and discern the solid branches from the weak ones.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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