With just a walk past the toy section at our local department store, it's easy to see that toy manufacturers make a KILLING off of childrens desire to have the latest and greatest toys, gadgets, characters and what-have-you's. I admit that we fall into the trap once in awhile, but not too often. One of the blessings of a small house tends to be that there's not alot of places to store stuff. I sometimes wonder if we are numbing our kids ability to **imagine** when we give them a toy that's got rules and boundries. I'm not saying that toys are bad (and I'm CERTAINLY not saying that rules and boundries are bad!!!) It's the EXCESS of what's out there (and in some cases, the time-wasting factor of some toys) that's troubling to me.



Enter: the box. We received a desk chair yesterday (compliments - yet again - of the Bank of America Rewards program) and it came in a huge box. Abby took one look at that and yelled - "CAT CABIN"!!!!!! (She's recently taken to pretending she's a cat). No sooner then the chair business was out being assembled did she jump in and begin to plan her decorating strategy. I hit that thing up with a utility knife (for door and window) and tape gun (make those walls higher - use the flaps!) and - WAAAAAA LAAAAA! You gotch-yourself a nice little kitty cabin. Not only that, but you've got a happy kid and weeks of imagination usage.

I had coffee with a friend this morning and we talked about how young children have the capacity to have imaginary friends and believe in magic and unseen things. Our culture offers plenty of options to satisfy and feed that capacity. Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God "sets eternity in the hearts of men" (NIV). I like the Amplified version of this verse which reads that He, "planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy]". I could be wrong, but I think God "divinely implants" the ability for us believe the unbelievable and see the unseeable (is that a word?) to prepare us for faith in Him. It's too bad that as we "grow up" we are so inundated with the "substitutes" for the Way the Truth and the Life (aka Jesus). Sometimes, it's good to just drop everything and play in a box.

Soap box aside, Abby is having a great time in her box....I just love that she does that, and I love even more what that teaches me (the old one).

Cheers!

Momma Kitty.