Merry-Go-Round Moments

When was the last time you rode on a merry-go-round? For me it was last summer with my daughters. Are we ever to old to ride the carousel?

Think of the last time you waited for luggage at an airport. Like the ride at the amusement park, the luggage carousel goes around and around and around. Instead of trying to spot your child, you are trying to spot your one piece of black luggage, lost in the myriad of, seemingly identical, black pieces of luggage, until you finally find your missing baggage. You just needed time to recognize it was yours.

2010 is here. Some things will be a carryover of 2009. Some of 2009 will repeat itself in 2010. Like the carousel, we will have merry-g0-round moments in 2010 that roll past us. It may not just be events, but people, and ideas. But it is almost a guarantee that what comes around goes around and some things will keep going around and around and around.

Someone once said "Life's lessons are repeated until they are learned." Maybe the repeat customer will be resolutions that we just never kept. Maybe the returning problem is a habit that just won't let go. Or maybe the reoccurring pattern of behavior is a call for change.

Like the rotating "Lazy Susan" or the rotating platform on the dining table at that local Chinese restaurant, we will be offered things over and over again. Some things we should automatically reject, but some things, like important truths, may keep coming around until we grab onto them.

Just because it takes some of us longer to recognize certain things right in front of us, doesn't mean that we were lacking, just not looking.

Maybe we overlooked priorities like faith and family. Maybe we passed over our own potential.

2010 will be filled with many merry-go-round moments. The second times around and the second chances will come around, and when we spot them, when the light blubs finally go on, we will appreciated them more. We will be glad we were paying attention.