Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The Sky's the Limit... Sort Of

Don't fall over.  I'm actually writing a blog post.  Hope you can recover from the shock.

I've been reading the Little House series to the boys before bedtime.  I started the first book a couple of weeks ago and really thought the boys would lose interest in the storyline of a little girl and her family in the Big Woods - but there was enough hunting and butchering and storytelling to keep them focused. 

In that book, (Little House in the Big Woods), Laura and Mary live with their family in a little cabin deep in the Wisconsin woods.  One day their dad decides that it's time for his family to join him for his visit into town.  They had never gone before, and of course there was a lot of excitement about the many things they might see.

The town was near a lake and as they traveled they eventually came out of the woods - the only environment Laura had known - and entered into the wide open spaces near a lake that stretched for miles... and Laura was scared of how very big the sky was.  She had never realized the sky was so huge, because at home it was drowned out by the trees.  She felt small and swallowed up and she will never forget how different she felt when she saw the reality of the size of the sky above her.

Now, I've read this book before, but this portion had never struck me like it did this time around.  It made me wonder how very limited my perspective might be.  What am I missing out on because I'm so entrenched in what is around me - because the trees are crowding out the big, glorious sky?  Am I walking around oblivious to the opportunities around me or am I searching for them, hoping for that exciting and intimidating feeling that comes when you realize that you are a part of something much bigger than yourself? 

That little story just got me to thinking... so I thought I had better write it down (and am very glad Laura had wrote it down for me.)