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    The Playground
    The Playground
    The Playground
    Ebook131 pages1 hour

    The Playground

    By R.A. Feller

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This book, The Playground, is actually a childrens story. When I saw there was a need to explain to my fourteen year old daughter, spiritual principles in the simplest of ways, I referred her to the elements found within a playground.


    I thought it would be the easiest way for her to retain information if she drew an analogy from each element of play and it worked.


    Here I use spiritual applications of the slide, a swing, a see saw, some monkey bars, a sand box, a round a bout, a barrel, and finally a balance beam to illustrate metaphysically spiritual terms in the simplest of manners.


    Realizing myself how effective this is as a teaching tool, on how we relate to God, I also wanted to share this with my readers.


    Socialization, parental guidance, and leadership are some more of the topics addressed, along with more wonderfully crafted poems to strengthen ones faith.



    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateAug 22, 2007
    ISBN9781467826051
    The Playground

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      Book preview

      The Playground - R.A. Feller

      AuthorHouse™

      1663 Liberty Drive, Suite 200       

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.authorhouse.com

      Phone: 1-800-839-8640

      © 2007 R.A. Feller. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      First published by AuthorHouse 8/15/2007

      ISBN: 978-1-4259-9596-6 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4678-2605-1 (eBook)

      Printed in the United States of America

      Bloomington, Indiana

      Contents

      The Slide

      On the Steps

      See Saw

      The Swing

      Swing Interaction

      Swinging In the Stillness

      of the Light

      Glimpses of Swinging Past Stability

      Which Slows Us Down to See Clearly

      Round-a-bout

      The Monkey Bars

      The Sand Box

      The Barrel

      The Balance Beam

      Follow the Leader

      Inviting Others to Play

      The School Playground

      The Guardians of Play

      Confusion in the Playground

      Poems

      About the Author

      This book is dedicated to my daughter Ashley who helped me to see the complex in the simplest of all ways, that of a child.

      I remember the innocence of a playground where children felt safe about being honest, where a friend was simply made by saying, Do you want to play? I long for these days of simple play. For as I grew older and encountered people who looked upon how I was dressed, or where I lived, or even who my parents were, my playmates seemed to gradually disappear.

      The final resounding blow came when, although my athletic abilities were accepted, my social graces were found dysfunctional. To the point of where, no one wanted me around after the physical play was done.

      My recovery from these days takes me back to looking at myself through very different eyes.

      The good Lord taught and is teaching me how to play socially, to humble myself as a child and be free within His love. After making most of my choices for life without Him, in the dark, I had become very skeptical on how I’d relate with other people. I did not want to be hurt anymore or hurt others.

      Now with my eyes on God, there is a familiar place for me to revisit as I am parented by His Spirit. It holds a common bond that I had to relearn within its simplistic setting, which I call the playground.

      This book takes a look at what had been familiar to me as a child. Wherein I once made poor confused choices in the dark, and crosses me over from here, to looking back from a vantage point with one of light.

      There are common principles which I’ve learned by looking at a playground in a metaphysical way. It is my hope to make the abstract simple, by identifying each principle element in child’s play, in a way where it can easily be remembered as applied to everyday life.

      Yes, by using the contraptions found within the playground of my youth, I have found practical applications to problems that we face daily in a way that will help one to remember solutions by recalling the simple elements of play.

      There are a few basic similarities in the elements of play for them to function properly: Center and balance will affect the ride and its duration. Also friction can come into play, wear and tear and weather are other factors; however, I only want to use the elements of play as a guide for you to expand upon on in identifying spirituality in our everyday walk of life.

      The Slide

      There are two approaches when we climb the ladder of a slide. One is that we are in control, aware of each step we are going to take. The other we anticipate the ride of the slide so the steps seem to have disappeared.

      I have learned that when I seek to follow God there are two methods of climbing that come into play. In building a relationship with God there is a ride to keep climbing deeper into His love by learning about the truth of who He is. Hence, the more I know about Him the more of Him there is to love … and the more enjoyable the ride.

      But when I am self-centered, in my other way, I notice not whom I’m communicating with. I have discovered when I climb the ladder in my relationship with God too quickly it causes me to draw my own interpretation of God, and this keeps me from truly getting to know Him.

      For I excel the pace of the rate He wants to teach me about Himself, cutting me off from the full spectrum of our love relationship. Hence this causes me to slide down and away from Him, for I have not been still within the order of His presence. This is made evident by the loss of my peace in my relationship with Him as well, for Jesus is the Prince of Peace and when I lose sight of this I lose the enjoyment of the ride.

      Therefore my climb up the ladder must be one of patience, where I allow God to move me up the ladder at His pace. When God raises me up the ladder I stay up, held by His love.

      Unless I am distracted by a need, which I’ve to learn I need to turn over to Him. In all honesty I have lost sight of Him, but the good part about Him being gracious, even where I’m found to climb in my own wisdom. To face struggles I have in everyday life and lose my faith, everyplace I’m found to slide back down. God is proven to be faithful, for He is there to catch me by His grace. He then places me back on the ladder, where I left off growing forward towards His light, in my relationship with Him again.

      On the Steps

      1-Feeding the flesh takes away from the Spirit and feeding the Spirit strengthens the reality of Christ against the flesh. The Spirit and the flesh are always at war one with the other so make every word count. Watch out for strays not spoken in the bond of peace, seasoned in love and grace, with self control.

      2-Know the root of every word spoken, whether it sprouts upward towards God in the light of the truth or leaves you grounded in the darkness of self.

      We are to take every thought captive unto the Lord who is Jesus Christ our head. When all else falls into place through His light, up the ladder we’ll move from our familiar patterns of being torn; where in our numbness, we have yet a need to grow and heal to be able to feel our pain, there is a process of being made whole.

      Many years ago I was wondering how our thoughts and emotions worked together. I sought the Lord in prayer and this is what He revealed to me.

      Feelings are made of thoughts and emotions cross stitched in a grid like fabric throughout the body, joined together within the brain.

      When this fabric is taught, it is like the calmness of still waters on a lake, we have peace with God.

      If you were to throw a rock into this lake there would be ripples at first, as they would be disbursed across its’ surface, but then as the surface of the lake absorbed them, then the calm would return.

      We are put together alot in the same way, when we encounter stress our feelings fabric absorbs it, only the ripples are disbursed throughout our whole body.

      Those who have an open communication with God are able to turn things, problems that arise in life, over to him right away. The duration of time needed to process our feelings and maintain a position of peace becomes less frequented the more in tune we become with God’s love towards us. For now we are closer to Him within our expression of feelings.

      In this way we can be there for others as a part of the pattern of His order, for the nearer we are to God the more we take on His character, which He works into us.

      As we learn to process stress through God loving us and our returning His affections we enter into a flow of love, where He replaces our stress within His love. All by the power of His grace we are sewn into the

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