Childhood Joy

Can you remember the last time you did something that you enjoyed doing as a child? As a child, I enjoyed bike riding. I would ride all over town on my bike.

The other night I decided, for exercise, I wanted to go for a bike ride. Because it had been years since I road my bike, the tires were flat and it was covered in dust. My husband filled up the tires while I dusted it off. I donned my helmet and off I went.

My goal was to get some exercise. What I didn’t expect was the joy that came as I pedaled along. I realized why as a child I loved riding a bike: the freedom it gave me. The events of my day vanished, replaced with flashes of childhood adventures. I contemplated letting go of the handlebars like I did as a child. I decided against it, not trusting my balance; I didn’t want to ruin my joyful feeling with a crash.

Tapping into childhood

As I pedaled, I thought: “this is why, as adults, we need to tap into the things of our childhood that brought us joy”. I forgot about how much riding a bike with no destination in mind brought me.

As I approached home, I saw a man in a mechanical wheel chair walking his dog. Seeing the man unable to walk made me realize how lucky I was that I could still ride a bike. I became grateful. And in gratitude, I said a prayer of thanks.

I believe joy does that to a person. Joy makes us feel grateful. Although days in life can be challenging, we have the ability to tap into joy. Sure, it requires intentionality. But our childhood activities that brought us joy then will more than likely bring us joy as adults. We just need to open ourselves to play, allow ourselves to let go, be silly.

Let the child you’ve stuffed down be free to live again.

Prayer

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11