The Old Rope Swing

I will be posting more than eighty of these stories on my blog in the up coming weeks. Some of these you will remember and some you have never seen.

This is one I wrote in Sept 2006. Little did I know the real effect it would have on my life.

As I sat on the front porch today looking at the two fifty foot magnolias in front of our house I could not help but to think back a few years. I remember back when I built Sara and Laura their very own rope swing, it still hangs there today, just swaying in the wind. Not much good for anything except memories now. The two by four ladder is the same way. It’s still there but not being used any more. These are the memories that take me back, they take me back to a starting point. I can still see them swinging there sometimes and still hear their voices calling from the tree. "Daddy, daddy, look at me" they would yell, "come climb the tree with me". I would always climb up and always go higher than they were allowed to go.

I am telling you all this because its moments like this we need to be reminded , it’s the start of something that has the best memories. Sometimes, God want us to go back to the start, not just for a moment but to really think deeply about it, forget the details and really look what He has done in our lives. Think about the people we have met, think about the lives that have been changed. Think about how God has molded us since a year ago. Some things will shape us forever, as with me it is St Louis. I am a different person because of what happen there. It is my forever "empty swing". What could of happen didn’t, what should of happened did. I have to leave it at that. It’s a memory now but one that comes to me very often.

Our life seems to get so busy we end up looking at all the little details and loose sight of the goal. If we are not careful and keep a good balance we end up sitting on the porch looking at an empty swing, thinking back, "I would give anything to swing one more time, I would give anything to climb one more time".

God has shown me in the pass weeks that His call on my life and the lives of all those here is so real and is nothing to be tampered with. We have to do this! Lives are in the balance, souls are in the balance. So as we go out this weekend doing the will of the Father, going from place to place, seeking the lost, healing the hurting, please remember those great majestic magnolias. They are just the keepers of the old rope swings, the old nailed up ladder and the wonderful memories of a season that was so full of joy. Remember the time you came here, when we all first met. We are all still the same people. We have just added a closet full of memories. How blessed are we?

So, when the swing gets empty, go to the word, look up something that takes you back to the start. Let’s take our time, seeking that one hurting soul that needs a life changing touch. It may be that their swing is empty and they need to remember back. It may be one of us.
George Beasley