Fairgrounds and Sparkles
Over fall break, I went to a country fair out in Anderson, SC while I was visiting some of my friends in Honea Path. It was an exciting night. It always brings back a lot of memories going back to those places… everything from the rides, the ferris wheel, the bumper cars, the corn dogs, and the tickets. On this particular occasion, I noticed something that I had never really paid much attention to in the past…
As Mr. May and I were walking around the fairgrounds, he said to me in his deep Southern accent, “Look around you, Philip. It’s sad… I look at these people, and I don’t see the sparkle in their eyes anymore. They don’t have anything to live for…”
It wasn’t hard to understand what he was saying. What I used to perceive in my ignorance was simply the pure fun of riding the ferris wheel or the rides that throw you and turn you upside down at every possible angle. I remembered walking with my dad and my other brothers and sisters, eating cotton candy and just laughing together.
What I saw now was the cigarrette butts on the ground, the numerous beer cans and bottles strewn beneath and beside each and every ride… I saw the hopelessness that owned so many of the lives there. You might very well say, “Well, Philip… your problem is that you’re not focusing on the right thing. You should be focusing on the good memories and the fun times that the fair brings. Forget all that other stuff…”
Forgetting it doesn’t change it. Switching your focus doesn’t wipe away the reality that the lives of so many people in the world have lost (or never known) their “sparkle,” as Mr. May so rightly put it. And that sparkle is not simply the happiness and pleasure of daily life — it is the joy and peace that comes from having the hope and reality of Heaven. People (including myself) talk about going overseas to do mission work, and that is indeed an incredible need. But don’t forget the mission field that lies around us…
Published on 29 Nov 2007 at 9:32 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under A Day in the Life, Thoughts.
so true, Phil. It’s easy to forget that we live amongst souls and not just faces.
People put a facade of “happiness” that makes us forget their intense longing for something more. They’re missing the ultimate joy.
That said, we have all the more reason as children of God to be TRULY happy :)
Jess Gauley on 30 Nov 2007 at 4:20 pm.
did you at least have funnel cake? thats a joy to life
jk.
I totally know what you mean bro; I’ve just recently begun to see through the mess of different things. So often do we as people blind ourselves to “temporary happiness” that we in turn loose ourselves to what would/will make us truly happy. When realizing that ultimate joy can only be satisfied through the Almighty, it definitely makes other joys in life, without God….pointless.
joey on 2 Dec 2007 at 4:56 am.
wow, this is such an inspiring post philip. it reminds me of that song from the movie Donnie Darko, ‘Mad World’. A very sad but very powerful piece of music. hope you are well. man, i miss you guys so much.x
Amy Mulholland on 2 Dec 2007 at 8:32 am.