Young at Heart

Our family reunion in Carlsbad, California ended with a "Let's go to Legoland"! There I said it and we did it. WHAT? A couple of oldies and a middle-age daughter took to adventure.

Hold it!! I need to explain!

The grand finale at the family reunion was the annual Silent Auction. Family members spent the morning bidding on everything from treasures to treats, with proceeds helping celebrate graduates, new babies, and other special family milestones during the year.

Oh, but it didn't stop there -- Carl saw four auction items that stated: Legoland California -- 3 tickets each. Carl's thought and action was: "Why not?" Determined to stay as young as possible, he placed a bid on one of those 3-tickets' auction items to Legoland. AND, he won his bid.

I thought, "How cute!" After all, I remembered taking my grandchildren to the Legoland Discovery Center in Grapevine, Texas -- a wonderful indoor world of LEGO creations.

But this was different -- uh, not just different -- it was above and beyond what we expected -- a 128-acre theme park!

A gorgeous 75 degrees outing awaited us! Carl, our daughter Veronica, and I found ourselves wandering through an enormous park filled with life-sized animals, cities, landmarks, and creatures -- all built from millions of colorful LEGO bricks.

We took a jungle boat ride past giant dinosaurs and marveled at the creativity everywhere we looked.

Then I had what some might call a questionable idea.

"Let's ride the roller coaster!"

A few minutes later, we were strapped into the Galacticoaster, a space-themed adventure that launched us through twists, turns, and enough excitement to wake up every creaky joint in my body.

As we blasted through the darkness, I laughed and wondered, "Lord, is this ride taking me straight to Heaven?" Not this time! LOL!

For a couple of hours -- we were children again. It was wonderful -- the awe and wonder of everything we saw and did!

And perhaps that's exactly what Jesus had in mind when He said, "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3)

Jesus wasn't talking about childishness. He was talking about childlike faith -- humility, trust, wonder, and complete dependence on our Heavenly Father.

Children don't spend their days worrying about tomorrow. They trust. They believe. They receive joy freely.

Maybe that's a lesson some of us need to relearn.

No matter our age, God invites us to approach Him with the faith of a child, the wonder of a child, and the trust of a child.

So let's go ahead -- laugh a little louder, enjoy the ride, and embrace the joy God gives us today.

After all, growing older is inevitable.

Growing old at heart is optional.

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