Silence filled with Laughter

Every Monday we have a staff meeting.  We light a Christ candle and start with a moment of silence.  Normally everything is silent except for the air conditioning running or the rush of cars passing by on the street.  This morning though, when I closed my eyes and reached for silence I heard laughter.  Children’s laughter to be specific, it was coming from below me on the playground outside the window. 

For the past two weeks we have had preschool summer camp at the church.  Today they just happened to be outside playing on the playground during our silent time. I love the sound of children laughing.  When I hear it I know that everything is right with the world. 

Children don’t understand the problems of this world.  They don’t have the many different weights on their shoulders.  They don’t feel the stress of everyday life that adults do.  They just want to play and learn and have a good time. 

Don’t you just want to be a child sometimes?  To be able to forget about the world around us for a day and just play, or read, or nap would be wonderful.    We would not have to worry about the bills, work, school or other people, we could just be carefree for one day.  It would be a day of sharing and love where we could lie on the green grassy hill with our friends and look up at the clouds in the sky and have no issues or problems come into our heads.  We can just tell our friends that that cloud looks like a giraffe.

I think we should invent that day.  We can call it relive your childhood day.   It would be a day of relaxation, of wonder, excitement, and love.   Just one day a month where we could forget about everything and just be.  Where stains on our clothes and untied shoes just don’t matter. 

Today I truly was in a silence filled with laughter.  I could do nothing but smile.  I wanted to be out there with them.  The day that I will be worried about life is a day when children are on the playground and all I hear is silence.