Stuffed Animals, August 23, 2011 Daily Reflection

Jake's Stuffed Animals

There they sit at the foot of his bed; all of Jake’s stuffed animals. They have been played with, slept with, thrown around but most of all they have been loved.

Do you remember your favorite stuffed animal, doll or security object as a child; that one item that you needed in the middle of a stormy night? It gave you a sense of security, like you were not really alone in that dark room. A doll to play tea with or a stuffed animal to play superheroes with as you tied your blanket around your neck like your cape. Make believing you were older, stronger, and bigger than you were at that time.  Those dolls or stuffed animals were not just toys they were a stepping stone to thinking outside of our boxed in lives. They gave us a way to create pretend worlds and imagine scenarios beyond an adult’s wildest dream. Those “toys” were there to snuggle with and keep us safe when the shadows on the wall moved and the thunder boomed outside our windows.

As we began to grow into teenagers and young adults we put aside our childish ways including our security items. Now we have to just be secure with who we are in life. As adults we know that when the thunder booms the likely hood that lightening will strike our house is very slight. We know that the shadows on the wall are cast from something ordinary in our rooms. We know that we are safe and secure. But thank God that someone who loved us as a child cared enough to give us those items, those stepping stones to help us grow and make us feel warm and snuggly in the middle of the night.

Children have so much love to give that it flows over from people to their security items and so it should be that way. Those items should be worn down with love just like the Velveteen rabbit or in Jake’s case his puppy.

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