When your ten year old son asks if he can go out in 40 degree rain, and you say “no” like it’s the most obvious thing in the world… sometimes it’s not. Obvious, that is. Because it wasn’t to Jeremy who said, sure and that it was a perfectly fine idea. And so I thought, “Eh. Why not?” And I ran to get my camera, because you know puddle jumping pictures are always fun.
Was it cold? Of course, it was. Unfortunately, it wasn’t even one of those warm spring rains. A mere week ago, a Snowstorm dropped eight inches and most areas of our yard are still blanketed with the frozen white stuff.
But he didn’t care.
Because when you’re ten, you don’t get hung up on things like cold, or wet.
You just jump in because you can.
And it doesn’t matter if you fall down.
It doesn’t even matter if you fall down multiples times.
Because you know you can get right up again. And if the tiny puddle that you’re jumping around in, is too small, you just go and find yourself another one.
A bigger and better one. And it will make you jump, bigger and better too.
In fact, you’ll do things that you didn’t even think were possible.
So, is this post about puddle jumping? Or about life? Both, I suppose. Since most of us probably aren’t ten anymore, we might have forgotten what it feels like to just go for it. To throw off the things that hinder us and to jump right in. To not worry about cold, or pneumonia, or getting a little wet. To just jump our little hearts out, because we’d rather embrace life and puddles and go for it, than be held back, watching and missing out.
So there’s our encouragement for the weekend. Granted, I probably wouldn’t recommend actually jumping in puddles, if you’re anywhere over ten or so. But go find your puddle. What is it in your life that you need to just go for? My advice is to jump right in. It might just make all the difference.
