THE PLAYGROUND By Sally I. Kennedy

May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you
sent me and have loved them. John 17:23

Our ten year old granddaughter had challenged me to a game of
slapjack. She was beating me. Badly, I might add. The rules seemed to
be different than I remembered. It s been a long time, but slapjack is
pretty basic, I thought.

A few of our other grandchildren were outside playing with a ball,
arguing. One of them had been accused of making up the rules. Before
long, I heard, You re cheating. No fair! The retort, I m
quitting!

On the playground of life, it s good to learn how to give and take and
share. It s also good to not give up playing together, taking your
marbles and going home if things aren t going your way.

Over time, we have created many faith denominations. We have learned
to do things a little differently. It is worthwhile, however, to find
a way to play together, be bruidge builders.

Unity is good. That doesn t mean our basic beliefs have to be
compromised. Each one of us, and each group, has something unique to
offer. It s kind of like potluck dinners. What a great invention. You
take one food item, like a casserole, salad, or cake. Then you have
your choice of all kinds of food for your dinner. Our plates would be
much less balanced if we only ate from our own dishes, plus a possible
deficiency in healthy nutrition by not covering a little from each
food group. We all have something to offer, and none of it is quite
the same. Even if we start with the same recipe.

No man is an island. We need each other so we can share our varied
strengths. And unity is a big deal to God. The foot of the cross is a
place we can all meet. Our Father planned for all us kids to try and
get along; it s good to keep coming to the playground.

Sally I. Kennedy is the author of Irish Thursdays , "Words from the
Heart , and 52 Little Parables from Ireland" . She lives in south
Florida, with her husband Ben. You can email Sally at
sallyikennedy@bellsouth.net and visit her website at
http://www.sallyikennedy.com