Sue and I have some really great friends, people who we share the most amazing memories with. As a bunch of friends we do sophisticated things together; going to the theatre and having quiet days.
Yesterday we had a day of silliness. We could have been sophisticated, but it was great to be silly. For me ‘silly’ days are those days when you sit back and you list the activities that you did and you say ‘we did what?’.
Yesterday’s day of silliness was spent in Southport. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying that Southport is silly, just that we did silly things.
We started at the Botanic Gardens which are nice and pretty. Straight away the silliness set in. We hired rowing boats and rowed our way around the lake/pond/green and slimy patch of water. There are only two children in this group, the rest of us a decidedly middle-aged or definitely moving that way. But we are only middle-aged on the outside.
I have to admit that it took me a little while to get going, but once I let myself relax I was off.
After the rowing the park had even more delights. Next up, the crazy golf and from there onto the little ‘train thing’ that gives you a tour of the park (It’s really more like an old peoples buggy with a few trailers behind it). Jonathan sat there all embarrassed because one of his teachers also sat on the train. I don’t think we did anything to ease his embarrassment as we waved at every passer by (and there were lots of them).
From the Botanical Gardens we went into Southport proper, parking on the beach. Walking into town along the pier we cheered at the kids in the skater park doing their acrobatics. Some were a little coy, but most loved all the attention.
The fun wasn’t finished there though, the Jet Boat was next. Everyone in front of us had looked very calm and collected as they left the boat, we decided to bit a little less reserved about it and cheered all the way around the 2 minute course. Apparently the driver enjoyed the fact that we were enjoying it and gave us a little longer than anyone who had gone before us. Emily shouted so much that her mouth dried out and she couldn’t talk at the end.
We finished our time in Southport being the last people sat outside Costa, with the staff tiding up around us. It almost got to the point where there was one table in the middle of the street with us sat around it.
It was a great fun. I’d like to be able to say that it was like being a child again, but we never did things like that as children (not that I remember anyway).
Sometimes we can focus too much on being sophisticated, on doing things that have a purpose. Some times it’s best to do something with absolutely no purpose other than to have fun. As a Christian it is easy for me to look at the world around and to see all that needs to be done; but I firmly believe that God loves his children to enjoy life in all it’s fullness. For me days of silly fun are part of that fullness. Silly days with specials friends makes that experience so much richer.
I believe that God had a hand in creating the world we dwell in and I believe that His hand didn’t just bring form and function but also a bit of fun. As I look at creation I marvel at the strangeness and diversity of it all but I also think that some of it looks like it has been created the way it is as a bit of fun. Sometimes that fun is just a little silly. The Hammerhead Shark may be a born killer – but it definitely looks silly.
Graham Chastney 