Play People On The Rug

I spent part of the morning in the attic.
I was looking for something that I found almost immediately.
But I stayed up there.
I was enjoying the memories.

We have a sturdy pull-down ladder that allows us to go up to the attic.
I asked my husband to put a metal bar on the floor at the top of the attic opening.
When you leave the attic, you have to turn yourself around and come down backwards.
I wanted a strong bar for any of us to hold onto as we come down the ladder.

As soon as I got up in the attic, I saw all the empty gift boxes that we keep for presents.
I saw pieces of luggage and a box filled with mason jars.
I looked along the left side of the attic and saw all of our Christmas decorations in bins.
They are right where everyone placed them when they all helped put the decorations away.

I saw the little table and chairs where my children sat to draw or color.
I saw an old globe and a bin filled with Matchbox cars.
I opened the lid and saw all the cars and trucks my boys collected over the years.
The smell of the metal cars brought me back to when they played with them on the floor.

I saw a Fisher Price doll carriage.
I saw one of my oldest daughter’s lacrosse sticks.
I saw extra leaves from a table laying carefully on the rafters.
I saw a pair of crutches from when I broke a bone in my foot the first week of college.

Everywhere I looked there were memories.
I even saw a few small bins that belonged to my aunt.
They were filled with photographs; I had forgotten they were up in the attic.
I made a mental note to go through them one day.

Only part of our attic has a floor.
The back section is actually the tray ceiling in our bedroom.
We cannot walk back there.
However, in the section my husband floored many years ago, I can stand easily.

I found a bin of toys that I had forgotten about but decided to bring downstairs.
I knew that the children who come with their moms to Bible study in my home would love them.
It was a bin filled with something called Sweet Streets, made by Fisher Price years ago.
They belonged to my youngest daughter.

In that back of her walk-in closet, she has the toys that mean the most to her.
The fact that this bin was in in the attic, meant that it was not as important and can be used.
I opened the lid and was immediately transported to a time when she played with them.
I even saw the two fabric mats that came with a few of the sets.

When the fabric mats were opened, the various houses and shops were placed on them.
There is a hospital, a school, a veterinary clinic, a house, and a vacation resort and a hotel.
Each set came with small people and accessories.
When all of the sets were placed in the large bin, the pieces were stored inside each one.

However, it has been years since any of this has been enjoyed.
I slid the bin down the ladder and then down our front staircase.
I opened it up on the family room floor.
So many pieces became separated from their actual set, I decided to empty them on the floor.

There was no way of knowing which piece went with which set.
There was no way of knowing which person went with which set.
Everything was on the floor, all together.
I realized that young children like it that way since they imagine all sorts of things.

I looked down at the mix of people laying there on the rug.
From their clothing, I could guess where they belonged, but I wasn’t sure.
To which set did the doctor belong?
The hospital? The veterinary clinic?

It was futile to even try to put pieces where they belonged.
I had absolutely no idea.
Then a thought came to me.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if the world we live in could resemble what was represented on my rug?

All colors, all occupations, and all ages together with a smile on their face.
They were play people with a smile that was always there, but a smile nonetheless.
Wouldn’t it be nice?
In my attempt to separate the play people, I was creating division where there should be none.

What if the school teacher had a second job at the ice cream parlor?
What if the man in the suit volunteered at the veterinary clinic?
What if the hotel fed the homeless?
What if the all the children were allowed to swim in the pool at the vacation resort?

Wouldn’t it be nice?
I remembered when my youngest daughter could not read the signs on the fabric mats.
She put each set wherever she wished; she liked it that way.
So do I.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
(Revelation 7:9)

One day, when the Lord Jesus returns, we will be part of a great multitude.
Just like the play people on my rug, all nations, tribes, and tongues will stand together.
On that day, we will see the realization of the Great Commission.
We will see the people from all corners of the world who have been reached with the Gospel.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

I thought of that day as I looked at the play people.
Wouldn’t it be nice?
Jesus commanded us to share the Gospel and make disciples.
What I saw represented on my rug will one day be a reality.