Growing Up

Is it just my imagination, or are kids growing up faster today? It seems to me that they are faced with and exposed to so many more of life's challenges at much younger ages.
Yesterday I went to a small church's back-to-school event held at the public park. While they (Solid Rock Church) provided games, food, drinks, and back to school stuff, I got to put on a magic show and tell the neighborhood about Jesus. The town has a number of adult bookstores and a casino and is economically depressed. You wouldn't exactly call this fertile soil when it comes to planting seeds--more like throwing seeds on the rocky pathway. But the church is preparing the soil and planting where they can.

The thing I notice most about these kinds of audiences is that many of the kids have lost their sense of wonder. They are already skeptical about life in general. They are the ones that "know how you did that" and miss out on the fun of the show. For most adults, we are willing to set aside reality for the time being and enjoy the moment, the magic. I think a part of us yearns for the days when the world was a wonder. It is my hope and prayer that these youngsters will have a time in their lives when they can enjoy the wonder of childhood, the wonder of life.

Thanks to Rachel Wild for sending this poem that expresses those thoughts. Rachel is a wonderful magician/lecturer/vendor from England and I have seen her on numerous occasions at the Midwest Magic Jubilee.

John

MAGIC WORDS

Magic and mystery
Music and mirth
Wizards and witches
Heaven and earth

Fairy tales and folklore
Wishes and dreams
Each day an adventure
Or so childhood seems

Then one day we grow up
The magic starts to fade
No time for story telling
Sunshine turns to shade

Hold tight to the magic
Take it with you every day
Then you’ll never lose that feeling
That your childhood’s here to stay.

Rachel Wild