Family Reunion

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

2024 Blog #31

July 29, 2024

Family Reunion

This past Saturday I spent a day at Knoebels Amusement Resort in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. The occasion was a family reunion of my wife’s side of the family. My daughter and one of my nieces had organized this event at this location. I saw a grandniece and grandnephews that I haven’t seen in over a year. I remember when their parents were little kids who were a little younger than my daughters. It is amazing how they have grown into such mature women.

My memories keep getting in the way. I still see them as little girls, instead of the grown women that they have become. Their children look like their mothers looked like forty years ago.  I experienced a trip down memory lane.

Only two of my three grandsons were able to attend. The third was not able to. One of my nieces and one of my nephews also could not be part of the reunion. We weren’t all together but many of us were. I was able to take my grandsons, as well as my grandniece and grandnephews on the many rides in this park. I enjoyed the fun times that I had with them on the rides and eating snacks.

I enjoyed Knoebels park. The number of rides was extensive and were for children of all ages. There were numerous places to get food, and the prices were affordable. It was a far cry from the prices at entertainment centers in Northern New Jersey where the prices are frequently astronomical. Saturday was full of family, friends and entertainment at affordable prices. How could it have been a better time?

I did grow a little weary of going on age-appropriate rides with the young people. There is only so many times one can enjoy the Merry-Go-Round, but it was worth it to see their happy faces on such rides. We do things that we would rather not do, for the sake of the joy of the next generations.

I wish that we all could get such simple joys as these children received. I guess there is something that we grownups should learn from these little ones. If we adults would only learn to enjoy simply things, how much joy would we have in life. Instead, often we want to gain more, more, and more instead of the simple joys that life provides. Jesus warned us that our hearts must become like those of children. Maybe it is time to learn that lesson. Maybe it will just give us more joy and peace.