Just Rollin' Along

I saw a picture recently of an old roller-skate key and took a slide down memory lane, remembering the hours I spent rolling through my neighborhood, clacking over the cracks in sidewalks, jumping curbs, and (not trivially) learning how to stop without damage to myself or property. I laughed (and garnered a quizzical look from my wife) as I recalled futilely trying to tighten the skates over the rubber soles of my high-top Converse All-Stars. As I grew, my need for larger shoes grew too. So, I learned how to use that other part of the skate key to loosen and tighten the nut and bolt that held the two parts together. It made me smile to recollect all I learned about myself, my neighborhood, and life by rolling around in those skates. Good memories.

I had a next-door neighbor who also got roller-skates about the same time I did. He kept his skates in the box, only taking them out to polish them. I never saw him using them. I would stop by and ask him to go skating, but he said he didn’t want to scratch them up. When I returned after exploring the neighborhood, he would be on his porch polishing his skates; very proud of owning them but never using them for their intended purpose. At the time, it made me sad for him. I wondered if he was too scared to put them on and start rolling around, or if he was just content staying on his front porch and polishing them, giving off the impression he was a skater.

Religion is a lot like that pair of roller-skates.  We can learn to use it as intended – practicing daily -- or we can keep it closed up in a box where we can claim possession of it and polish it when we want without risking the bumps and bruises that come with using it.  I’ve learned both religion and roller-skates are intended to be used hard and often. To be skilled we must use them regularly. They expand to fit us as we grow. They offer us a vehicle to places we cannot otherwise go. And, when we use them as intended, we may get banged up a bit along the way – but growing pains are good.

I’m immensely grateful God gave me the courage and sense of adventure to use those roller-skates hard and frequently. Those skates took me to many new places, provided new experiences, grew with me, and enabled many new genuine friendships. Religion can be like that too. I bet that’s one of the things God had in mind when saying, “See, I am making all things new!” (Rev. 21:5) It’s never too late to get rolling!