Wayne Weekly “Rails and Ties, Spikes and Tar”

I recall with great fondness, the days I spent with friends walking railroad tracks that ran through my early childhood home town. We would do the tightrope act on the steel rails, and then hop from tie to tie, often stopping to collect discarded railroad track spikes along the way.

It’s funny how the most simple of things can create the greatest of childhood memories.

Back in “the day”, as they say, we didn’t have video games, cell phones and computers. We had bicycles, wagons, and imaginations that took us to the moon or propelled us to Mars, or catapulted us to the highest of mountains, or put us in the engine of a speeding train. We made motors for our bikes from baseball cards attached to the bike fender with a clothes pin and spaceships made from cardboard boxes.

Do children imagine today? They must. Isn’t that a part of growing up? I am really not sure what they imagine, but I am sure the images generated in their minds still take them on incredible journeys…at least I hope so.

God designed the mind to imagine. Imaginations help us to achieve goals, expand our horizons, and fulfill our God given destiny.  As we age, the imagination for achieving great things does seem to diminish. We have chugged through life either reaching our dreams or realizing our limitations, perhaps both. Our life’s blueprint becomes more complete with each passing year, the tapestry of our existence is pretty much displaying the final product.

Like so many, I like recollecting the days when walking the railroad tracks on a summer day, smelling the softened tar covered ties, and collecting the warm rusted spikes takes me back to a world of imagination. But, just for a moment in time, because I’m in the here and now, and I have my steps ordered by God, and I must chug along.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Psalm 16:11