The Boy and his Chair
dallin December 7th, 2008
We went to Hungry Jack’s for dinner last night, which isn’t very common for us, but we were hoping to meet some friends there. Unfortunately we had to leave before they got there.
From where we were sitting, we had a good view of the playground and the entrance to it. It has quite a high fence around it, with a gate at the entrance, which has a magnetic latch which you have to lift, in order to open the gate. This is not unlike the sort of gate you might find around a pool or at the entrance to a Kindergarten, to stop children from being able to get through. We sat there considering a few reasons why the would have such a system to keep children in or out of the playground.
As we sat there, we saw a boy who was determined to get into the playground. We watched as he slowly pulled a chair from a near-by table towards the gate. We watched as he crawled up onto the chair and stood up. We watched as he lifted the magnetic latch. And we watched as he tried to open the gate. In vain. The problem was the the chair, the very tool he was using to aid his entrance (or perhaps escape) into the playground was blocking his progress.
We considered this scene for a moment, and thought how sometimes the very actions that we perform while trying to get ahead, can often impede our progress. Hastily organised and poorly thought out plans can put us in a worse position than where we began. But a little more fore-thought, and perhaps some input from someone a little older, wiser or more experienced than ourselves, can simplify the process and help us achieve our goal. And our Father in Heaven is of course the ultimate source of that guidance and assistance.
Fortunately the boy did end up reaching his goal. Two other children came to his aid – one pushed his chair back slightly, and the other held the gate open while he climbed down so that they could move the chair away and open the gate.
