“We’re going outside,” our kids shouted as they ran to put on their shoes.
“Okay,” I responded, "what are you going to do out there?”
“We don’t know yet,” came the reply. And then, they were outside, the crunch of fall leaves underfoot, the possibilities wide open.
I smiled to myself as I watched them from the window. I tried to remember a time when I could access joy so freely, so effortlessly, so purely. I think back to summer afternoons of my youth, on my bike with a group of friends, peddling down dirt trails that meandered through our neighborhood. We didn’t have a destination in mind; we just knew that the world would open itself up to us. And so we explored with enthusiasm and joy.
Edward Abbey once said that his favorite flowers are “wild, free and spontaneous.” Perhaps he was drawn to those flowers because they reflect childhood, that sense of wonder and possibility and spontaneity.
In our zeal to enrich our children’s lives, we sometimes view this wild, free, and spontaneous time to be aimless and unimportant. But nothing could be farther from the truth. When our kids joyfully engage in life through play, they are building a hardiness, a wisdom, a reservoir of joy within themselves.
These qualities will sustain their hearts, minds, and bodies as they grow up. They don’t need a reason to be joyful, an errand to get them outside, a plan to embrace life’s adventure. They are the wildflowers of our lives — beautiful, resilient, and joy-filled.
As grown-ups, we cannot live the life of a wildflower as often our kids. We must also be gardeners too — planning, sowing, harvesting. But, every now and then, we should put down the burdens of the day and embrace all that is wild, free, and spontaneous…if only for a few moments.
We will find our joy renewed, our hearts lightened, our bodies invigorated. Just as nature intended.