On the last day or our trip to Italy, I stood in the Piazza Santa Croce, people were walking through the area, shopping and talking. People were huddled in pockets for warmth. The sun was hidden behind the clouds. Many people’s heads were down. Inside the church were some of the graves of pivotal people, Michelangelo (the painter & sculptor), Machiavelli (the father of political science), Enrico Fermi (the first to produce a controlled nuclear reaction), Galileo (the astronomer), Guglielmo Marconi (the inventor of the radio), Bartolomeo Cristofori (the inventor of the piano). In the middle of the square, was one little boy. Dressed in bright red and blue, he stomped and spun and and celebrated the day.
Childhood is a universal language and puddle stomping does not have to be taught. The bright round mirror like disk did not stand a chance against the white soled tennis shoes. They leapt with joy in response to his downward crush. The father who was “watching” the child seemed bored and distracted. The child, however, seemed energized and focused. No puddle was to go undisturbed. He walked around and around attacking with gusto and without need of rest. He reminded me of the people inside the church-delighting in discovery and action.
For what do you have boundless energy? What gives you strength and you hardly ever tire of doing? What drains you and numbs you to life? Watching someone who is excited, thrilled, enthralled in an activity makes me long for those same moments in my life. The task of life is to starve the life emptying moments and transfere that time to the life affirming activities. I hate that sometimes the whirlwind of activities spin so fast and I get caught in it so easily that I don’t take the time necessary to really live life.
I made plans last year and the year before to see some friend and spiritual guides. I never got around to it. I was too busy and too distracted. I looked up and the year was gone and now a whole month is gone and still I have not done what I intended to do. I have projects I love that are sitting untouched.
Looking at that foot poised in the air, knowing that it is going to come down with delight makes me want to put my foot down and do what I know will help fill up my spirit. The confines of life so easily form borders and boundaries that are hard to shake off. The ruts are so deep that it is hard to see the landscape. I need a little more delightful energy, a little more recess abandon.
Maybe you do to? Maybe it’s time to get back to somethings that excited you about life and love and God. It’s time to put your foot down and make a splash.