Being Church: Missionally Shaped

I want to go somewhere and run through the leaves that have fallen on the ground.  I want to kick them up in the air and fall into a huge pile of orange and red colored leaves.  The joy of playing in the leaves brings me back to my childhood.  Life was so much easier when I was able to jump into the leaves that have fallen from the trees in my back yard.  I could be a kid.  I didn’t have to worry about paying bills or going to work.  I never worried if I had enough money to fill my gas tank up or if I was ever going to find the girl God has for me.  I could be a kid.  The innocence of the world used to fill my spirit while I threw piles of leaves from my hand at a friend.

Now it seems as though I cannot jump in the leaves that have fallen.  I now feel as though I need to rake them up and put them into trash bags to be taken by the trash guy the next day.  Instead of playing in the leaves, I am taking away my childhood joy.  I have bills to pay and personal stresses I have placed in my life.

Am I the only one who wishes they could go back and play in the leaves?