Along For The Ride

I had zero classes today, so I spent the day in the 3rd and 4th classroom. We have "show and tell" every Friday, and every week I find myself laughing to tears. The things they bring to show and tell about are real things, things they are passionate about. Her aluminum that really looks like a seagull diving in for a turtle. His awesome headless man, beheaded by his dog, that stretches across the room. His sweet hot wheels trucks. Her beautiful pink purse with shiny sequins. I admire how passionate they are about the things they love. I long to be that crazy about the little things in my own life. But you can't sense the awesomeness of passion without sometimes sensing the pain of grief. In William P. Young's book The Shack, Mack, the main character has just lost his daughter and is meeting with God:

"I'm afraid of emotions," Mack admitted, a bit perturbed that she [God] seemed to make light of it. "I don't like how they feel. I've hurt others with them and I can't trust them at all. Did you create all of them or only the good ones?'

"Emotions are the colors of the soul; they are spectacular and incredible. When you don't feel, the world becomes dull and colorless."

These kids haven't had the experience that Mack has had. That we've had. I'm not sure at what age or what experiences trigger the fear of emotion. But it's this fear that seems to cause apathy. A lack of passion and motivation. Next weekend the theme for the Pathfinder mountain biking retreat is "Along For The Ride." The idea being that we tend to hop on the band wagon for the ride through life. We put our feet up, grab a few pillows, lay back and watch with apathy. Without getting emotionally involved, without pursuing our dreams, and worse; without acting on a moral imperative. I'm afraid to tackle this serious concern, I've found myself many times simply "along for the ride."