I love swing sets.
I’m fairly certain that I have written about my love for swing sets before, but it’s never a bad idea to revisit joyful little aspects of our lives. After all, we not everything has to be a big deal, nor does everything have to have a major impact on our hearts. Sometimes there are little things that make life just a little bit happier.
And for me, many of those moments involve a swing set.
Many of us, myself included, think of swing sets as something that young children play on. We forget that there are swing sets for babies and for toddlers and for children and even for adults! Just because many of us associate swings with childhood doesn’t mean that it should be isolated to our vague memories of sitting on a swing set during recess.
Because our time on a swing set actually had a lot more to it.
Swing sets actually require a bit of development.
Babies and toddlers are strapped in to the swing, and the only way they will move is if someone else helps them move. Some are terrified of the swing. Others absolutely love the swing, and they will sleep for hours in an automated swing in their nursery. However, these little ones are completely unable to move on their own.
They may want to move, but they do not know how.
And it is the responsibility of their caretakers to give them the push they need to start moving.
Then, as the child grows up and gains independence, they are faced with a new challenge: starting the swing on their own. Despite the simplicity of a swing set, most children struggle to even move.
So their caretakers give them a little push and encourage them to start to pump their legs on their own.
But they get tired. In their frustration, they will look to the other children still being pushed by their parents. Maybe they don’t need to actually learn how to play on their won.
And they give up.
I think this is a lot like how we live our spiritual lives. As young babies or children, we are encouraged by our parents and by God Himself. We are weak in spirit, and we do not understand the gifts we have been given. So we are given a push.
Like most babies, we have to adjust to the sensation of swinging back and forth, but in time..we find our way to the swing set on our own.
Some of us are blessed with the opportunity to be pushed by God and our communities for a long time before we are called to do something for ourselves. We live in a state of consolation for so long that we forget that to believe in something is far more than feeling good or happy or free. It’s a choice that isn’t easy.
And as we grow up in our faith, we are called to start to swing on our own.
We’re given a time of desolation.
By desolation, I do not mean sadness, but rather I mean that the presence of God in our lives and in our world is called in to question. We do not sense it in the same way. This certainly can make us feel sad, but that is not always the case. If anything, our culture’s sense of desolation sounds more like,
“Well it doesn’t really make sense for God to be here, and those without faith seem just as happy as me. Maybe I don’t need God after all.”
And so we slip away.
Not because we have bad intentions, but because the “go-with-the-flow” mentality of our spirituality does not work anymore. God called us to live out our true purpose, to work with Him to bring His love and mercy in to the world, and yet we choose to walk away.
How does the disgruntled child end up on the swing set again?
Someone asks them to play with them.
One of the reasons why I love swing sets is because playing on the swings is rarely a solitary activity. Sure, you ride the swing on your won, and yes you can spend time on the swing alone, but most of us find our way on to the swing and learn how to play as a part of a community, a family, a people.
“Front back, front back,” little Felicity sang from the swing set in her backyard. Little Mark, her brother, was learning to swing on his own, and she was going to help him.
Within a week, Mark was flying higher than even Felicity could.
And you would think that little Felicity would be frustrated by that, and in a way she was, but she knew that he learned to swing with her. She would just have to work a little harder to make her body move as quickly as Mark did.
Together, they would fly higher than they would on their own.
On playgrounds all across the nation, there are children inviting their friends to play on the swings with them. Some are patiently waiting for their friend to figure out how to use the swing set. Others walk away in frustration, but they will come back to see their friend on the swings again.
And once we learn to swing, we rarely, if ever, forget how to fly.
Children and adults alike are flying on the ground because someone helped them learn to swing. They were given a push in to the unknown, but they were not left alone forever.
If a child can invite someone to swing with them, then why can’t we invite someone to pray wit us?
There are thousands of people leaving the Faith a year. Not because there is something fundamentally wrong with it, but because they were called to have a deeper relationship with Christ, and no one was there to celebrate that with them. So few of us are asking others to play with us that there is not enough support for those who just need a hand to hold.
We tell ourselves that we just want to sit on the swing set on our own.
But…a child would not let someone sit on the swings by themselves.
I love swing sets because they remind me of how much love there is in this world.
My parents pushed me on the swing, and they brought me in to The Church at four days old. My siblings sat next to me and sang songs until they could fly in the sky, and they have prayed with and for me throughout our entire lives. My friends came to the swings with me, and they have supported my faith every step of the way.
I think we like swings because they give us something simple to smile about.
We just forgot how much more there was to that little thing.
It’s the opposite with faith. We see how complex it is, with the politics, the sins, the rules, the Scriptures, the churches, the people, and we forget how simple it is. Yes, each of these complex things is crucial for our understanding of God…but it actually is far more simple than most of us wants to admit.
God loves you.
He loves everyone just the same.
We look back to the swings because we know the joy of a swing set. A child would not let their friend go through life without having that same joy. I’ve seen adults teach one another how to ride a swing set because they want to their friend to share in that joy. However, we do not do the same for our Faith, which brings us eternal joy that cannot be taken from us.
We need to start treating the Faith more like a swing set.
Why are we letting people go through life without the joy of the Gospel, without the nourishment of the Blessed Sacrament, without the community of the Saints and Angels?
I am still learning how to welcome more people on to the “Swing Set of Faith,” but I know that life is better with another soul smiling than when I am sitting alone.
Dear Reader, if it’s been a while…know that I am here on the swings waiting for you to come play with me. And if you’re scared…that’s ok.
God the Father will give you the push you need to get started again.
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