Kids are so neat. Everyday I am reminded of how far outside the box we are capable of jumping. The way we think being the ages we are compared to what we thought when we were younger.
We had a field trip to the beach today and the tide was crazy. Even though high tide had passed three hours prior, the water was still very much a live not leaving us a whole lot of room to do the things we had planned...Such as life... We split the kids off and while half of them played a zany game of tug-a-tube, I gave cabins the task of reaching down real deep, I mean so far out there and really reaching to open their minds to create the most amazing most mind blowing sand castle they could imagine.
Things were going great for the first twenty minutes, until we had a sleeper wave come in and rain down on a few castles. "Hey! That's alright! we still have another 20 minutes!". So they began to rebuild and really love what they had created, as did I. The way the shapes moved and flowed into each piece of the bigger picture. The way each person created a new way of building, moving, and shaping the sand beneath their fingers. Delicately carving and moving to the motion of their thoughts and bouncing ideas between one another.
About seven minutes after I had told them to rebuild however a much bigger sleeper wave came in and crashed the party hard core, leaving the dance floor that was open for interpretation, completely motionless. Devastation. As we moved away from the rock wall and moved to dryer ground they only had 10 minutes left to start from scratch. Were they upset? Yes. Did they work through it and dig deeper than before? Absolutely. By the end of it they had all created some of the best Castles/Mountains/Mermaid pools/Octopus/Sea snake-dwelling/Towers I couldn't even wrap my head around.
To give someone some damp sand and an old yogurt container and say, "do something with this", ignites a spark in imaginations that could only be fueled by something amazing, something simple yet so complex...childhood.
Being around young minds mixed with ambition and combinations of wonder and curiosity, I have been realizing that the window to my imagination is rattling with anticipation. To take a step outside the box is just the beginning. It goes deeper than just creating a sand castle or a painting. Think of anything...and take it a step outside the box. Take it a few steps...
why stop? What does it mean to think outside of the box for you these days? What's stopping you?
the coolest thing about being made in the image of Creator God is that we were made to be creative beings.
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