Make Believe Store

Before malls and shopping centers were so streamlined, you often found playgrounds.
Playgrounds that were usually near the food court.
Playgrounds with climbing apparatus, slides, and playhouses.
I remember the playground that our mall used to have.

It was built right next to the food court and right across from an ice cream store.
It had a circular wall around it with four ramps leading down into the play area.
On one end there was a makeshift stage.
Many impromptu performances were held there.

There were benches around the periphery where the mothers could sit and watch.
It was a safe place.
It was a fun place.
It was the place that my children always wanted to go, after we finished our shopping.

The slide was always a favorite of my children.
The rope wall that connected the slide to the multilevel playhouse was challenging.
Calls of Mom, watch me, permeated the air.
A smile, a wave, a clap in the air was all they needed to be reassured you were there.

The younger children always enjoyed the playhouse.
The top level gave them access to the slide.
The bottom level became a make believe store.
The store even had a ledge where the child could put their wares.

Often my children would pretend they were selling ice cream.
Their siblings would go down the slide and come to the store to buy an ice cream cone.
Chocolate please, they would request.
The make believe ice cream cone was placed in their hand.

Often, other children would join in the fun.
Soon, the young entrepreneur would have a booming business.
Go down the slide and buy an ice cream cone.
Pretend money, pretend ice cream, actual enjoyment.

Our mall has not had that playground in years.
It was removed when the mall was renovated to make improvements.
My children often talk about that playground.
That was the best. Why did they ever get rid of it?

Why indeed?

Perhaps the management was afraid of lawsuits.
Perhaps the management was concerned with abductions since the entrance was nearby.
Perhaps children were being left there while the adults did their shopping.
Perhaps it is no longer the simpler time it once was.

That is sad.

The playground that is now in the mall is tucked out of the way.
It is a quarter of the size of the old one.
Only the smallest children play there with their moms right by their side.
Even the strollers must be left outside the play area in their own parking space.

For some reason, I was remembering the old playground this morning.
I was thinking of the make believe store with its customers.

Can I have a little bit of God, please?
Can I have just a smidgen of the 10 Commandments?
Just one scoop of the Bible, please.
Give me two scoops of good works.

We pick and choose what we want in our spiritual journey.
A little of this and a little of that.
If we tire of our choices, we can always move on.
We can always come back to another place that serves what we want.

I would like to buy three dollars worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough of Him to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack, please. I would like to buy three dollars worth of God, please.
(Wilbur Reese)

This poem by Wilbur Reese says it all.
Why are we satisfied with just a little bit of God?
Why are we content to get just enough of him so that we are not too uncomfortable?
Why are we fine with a fast food mentality to our faith?

We are no different than the children in the make believe store all those years ago.
We want to keep our religion neatly in a paper sack.
We want to pull it out if we need a little boost.
We want to put it away again until the next time we need it.

Except that is not how it works.
Jesus will not be taken lightly.
Jesus is not something you pull out and put away when you feel like it.
It is not about religion; it is all about relationship with Jesus, the Son of God.

Jesus is Lord.
Repeat: Jesus is Lord.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:15-20)

Three Dollars worth of God?
I don’t think so.

Jesus is Lord.
Repeat: Jesus is Lord.