Children's Games - Life Pinning

by Shauna V. Brown 

           As a child growing up I loved going to birthday parties. Birthday parties were much simpler then. Parents didn’t take a slew of children to a bounce house, pony rides or spend hundreds of dollars on food, elaborate invitations, prizes and gift bags. A few games were a main stay at these parties. I could always anticipate playing “London Bridges Falling Down” and "Pin the Tail on the Donkey". I knew that sometime the bandana would be brought out and everyone would gather around the donkey poster on the wall.  Such a simple game. For those few of you who haven’t played it just picture a donkey missing his tail. One by one each player  is blind folded. The player holds a paper donkey’s tail in his hand.  Then, usually the mother, spins and turns the blindfolded player around and around so as to confuse and distract them in knowing where the picture of the donkey is positioned. The winner is the person who places their tail the closest to where it is missing.  I always tried my best to maintain a remembrance of where I started. However, and frequently, as friends giggled, shouted aloud or squealed distracting directions, I became confused--I wandered. After placing the tail on the wall I was allowed to remove the blindfold. Laughing friends and mocking fingers made me feel uncomfortable and frequently embarrassed.  I always found that I was far off course. I had thought I knew where I was going. Only to find... I never came close and the prize was elusive. 

So from simple children’s games, London Bridges and donkeys without tails I haved learned over the years that bridges and dreams can crumble and fall down.   Distractions and distractors can lure us from the direction of our ultimate and eternal gifts of worth. We might even question... “How did I get here?” We might even wonder if the donkey is a symbol of our deliberate stubborness? 

          Of course there will be times when each of us step off the path, but gratefully we can ask for sincere direction, forgiveness and return. It’s so easy to listen to loud voices, enticing invitations or to follow what appears to be a seemingly better or easier path.

     Gratefully we have a loving Father in Heaven who is most mindful of each one of us, as well as the bridges that we will encounter. He knows when our stubborness will lead us off course. It’s important that we daily remove the self applied blindfolds. Oddly, sometimes we think that no one will see, or know, not even God.  

        I have observed over the past four years, [ Rick being a Bishop of a Young Single Adult Ward ] watching many as they change their course, remove the blindfolds, turn their hearts, their will, to their Father in Heaven.   I have seen the joy in their faces as they come to clearly see that their choices can either spin them astray or ultimately direct them to the Savior.

      I love to imagine the scene when we return to our heavenly home. I believe we all will be humble as we see clearly how many times we did listen and follow the soft promptings during life’s pin the tail games and journey. We will then realize that with God's help and Jesus Christ's, we pushed away the distractors, distractions, appetites and addictions and found our way to Christ. 

         So this day, might we all pin our hearts to eternal goals.

 Tuesday With Shauna, as Rick and I were away on Sunday.

Love to All,

Shauna