I love being at the elementary campus right before recess. The anticipation of going outside, getting fresh air, and being able to run and play with friends is palpable. I would dare say that for a high percentage of students, recess is a highlight of their day. Especially on a beautiful sunny day.

Carefree

I certainly remember this as a kid myself. Recess at school holds some of best memories of my youth. I remember just loving that fleeting feeling of the freedom that recess represented:  playing soccer in the spring and keeping score for the whole month, playing a huge hockey game on the school parking lot in the winter against the older kids and thinking about the day I was going to be their age, making snow forts (it was Ontario), running through the forest (Knox Christian School had a small forest for kids to play in), laughing out loud a lot, and generally feeling like there wasn’t a care in the world. And, of course, that dreaded end of recess bell that always came a couple minutes earlier than we all thought it should.

Time To Burst

As we head into the month of June, our hearts and minds often shift focus to ending the school year well. Top of mind for us would normally be celebrations of transition, saying good-bye to those leaving us, and especially graduations and commencements. Similar to 2020, this June will be unlike any other. We will remember the grad class of 2021 for many reasons but one thing that no one can ever take away from them is that they all endured something really hard during this time. Now they know they can survive difficult times.

This is true for all of us.

The image of a long-awaited recess again comes to mind. We have been cooped up with limited control for far too long. The announcement made by government officials last week about the plan of loosening restrictions felt a bit like this for me. It is time to burst through those doors of the school out into the playground of life.

This is us right now.

We are on the brink of recess, the brink of the playground.

We still have a few months left and we will stay the course. But the anticipation of a recess is upon us. God is good!