Hi! It's Monday again! Time for another Monday Moment with Mimi! As I told you on Saturday, Mimi and I took the grandchildren to our local Aviation Museum. Sadly, my favorite area of the museum was in disrepair...Read today's inspirational post from Mimi entitled, "Where Did the Flags Go?" Enjoy and thanks so much for stopping by! Shannon :-)
Where Did the Flags Go?
This is another one of
those busy weekends when I have been more than blessed to be on an
outing/adventure with all five of my precious grandchildren. My oldest daughter
decided for this particular adventuresome afternoon, we would visit the Aviation
Museum in Warner
Robins. It matters little that this was trip number four,
because it is still a worthwhile investment to visit the 50 acres of various
hangars and exhibits.
All 5 of the kids truly did
enjoy, learn, and play. I took pleasure in the 4 oldest deciding what mission they would go on in the
Flight Simulator – and they chose Desert Storm. I held back the littlest of the five, my small 3 year old,
because I was anxious that she would not understand the ride. And turns out, I made the wise choice. She
was a little confused as she apprehensively watched the Simulator turn and lean
with the others inside, while watching on the computer screen outside the
exhibit. She finally repositioned herself, lifted her little arms, and wanted
me to move her from her bird’s eye view off the stool she was perched on. She
needed me to hold her. (I assume she rationed if we were fixing to nosedive into Iraq,
she wanted me to be close with her, and I was.)
As we were going from
one hangar to another across the grounds, my daughter exclaimed, “What has
happened to all the flags?” She explained that when she had been there before, the
states’ flags were flying all around the Outdoor Amphitheater. She reminisced
that they were quite picturesque. There was only flag flying now, however—the
POW flag.
I replied that I didn’t know, but agreed with her that it looked a little bare. We watched as the kids
ran and played on the steps and grassy area of the large amphitheater. My
grandchildren never once noticed that the states’ flags and poles that used to
be flying there were now missing. Later, my daughter approached one of the
attendants and asked what had happened to the display. Her explanation was that
there had been a bad storm that had come through, and some of the flags were
torn. Respectfully, they just pulled them all down. Limited funding did not provide
enough to replace them.
In reflecting now about my day at the Aviation Museum,
a couple of things troubled me. One was that my
grandchildren would never pause to see the many states’ flags flying and have conversations and ask questions about them. Secondly, and most
prominently—like I said previously—it just looked a little bare. Some of the
apparent gaiety of the area was gone, ie, some of the life
with excitement was missing from the amphitheater area
And actually, it didn’t just look a little bare, it was
bare. It wasn’t bare because of any political debacle or any philosophical
controversy or even any religious stance—a bad storm had simply come through.
When the storm passed, the flags were removed and the area fell into disrepair.
I don’t intend to pick a
battle beyond my fire power, but really??? But more importantly, is there a life reminder in this for
us? Yes, I would like a flag to be flying above the kiddoes playing, so that
they will have something to talk about and use as a teachable historical moment.
But more importantly, I would like to remember and tell them that…yes a storm
came through and tore up the flags, but…oh
how quickly they were replaced, one by one. The area was restored.
Is there a point of reflection in this for me? Yes! I honestly, somewhat proudly, began to
reflect on my own children’s lives. They too have had storms come…storms of
great magnitude with damaging winds blowing the gamete... but they
did not let their lives stay bare, exposed and void of gaiety and life for
long. Piece by piece they reattached what was precious, reclothed their lives,
and wove their life back into something beautiful. They replaced, repaired, and
endured. In doing so, they brought fullness, laughter, and excitement back for
all of us. What area could have potentially been left bare with only 1 wounded flag flying is
now full of all the riches of a new found joy and way of life – because of the
storm. What could have been, was not, and because of that, in the present
tense, I now had the opportunity to be privy to a wonderful Saturday full of laughter and love.
The flag poles that are
bare at the Aviation
Museum
are just markers on real estate, but the flags that are flying for our personal
lives metaphorically wave high in our hearts waiting to have another fun
Saturday. Restoration...it is a beautiful sight indeed! For that I am blessed.
Blessings, Anne (Mimi)
Romans 5:3-4 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems
and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.
