Ben Wilson, LPC

I don’t know about where you live, but where we live the leaves are escaping the tree branches and drifting to the ground below, leaving a crunchy carpet of brown on our lawn. We have two trees in our yard that are almost completely bare. One tree in the front yard and another in the back. The front yard tree is ginormous and is almost always one of the first trees in the neighborhood to turn brilliant yellow then quickly shed its coat of one color. The tree in the back is slightly less ginormous, although still a blue-ribbon winner in its leaf production. We were completely blessed by friends who showed up one Sunday afternoon and raked up all the leaves in the front yard. All TWENTY-SIX bags of them. Yep, I told you it was ginormous. They worked hard, but also jumped in and lay in the leaves and chatted. I felt a bit guilty not helping and also a bit jealous not feeling the freedom to jump in the leaves myself.

I believe the leaves in the backyard are beckoning, calling to the child in me to come make a big pile of crunchy brown and jump.

Jump playfully.

Jump joyfully.

Jump freely.

Even if I don’t ‘have time for it’, I need to Just Jump.

But not Just Jump into the leaves, but Just Jump into my life with play, joy and freedom as well.  

Maybe you should Just Jump, too.