We're Going to Need a Bigger Bucket

My little boy used to fit in a bucket. Sounds funny I know, but when my kids were little – when I had four under the age of 12 – they used to love to run through the sprinklers in the front yard or wash all the bikes or the cars or set up a water slide or inflatable pool of some sort. We have never had a “real” pool, even though both my adult daughters swam competitively and played some pretty vicious water polo all through high school. Back to the bucket…

My son, being the only boy and baby of the family, loved the water as much as his older siblings - he seemed to have no fear. His sisters loved to sit him in the red car washing bucket, and he soon grew to love it, as well. Today, my bucket baby is thirteen and is often mistaken for Justin Bieber (if you don’t know, don’t ask) and almost as exciting as talking about girls is his love of running on a soccer field and xbox live. Not too long ago, I had to throw the red bucket away, the handle was broken, but the memories of those times remain clear. Life changes, growth happens and you can’t hang onto or stay in the bucket forever.

When your bucket becomes too small, what do you do? Time to climb out of the bucket and find a new place to grow. When we stay in a place too small, too confining, we hinder not only what we can achieve but we risk the knowledge already held and skills that have been, in some cases, painstakingly developed. Not moving forward can be easily confused as moving backwards. And may even actually cause backward movement.

Time doesn’t stand still, even if we wish it. It moves forward or it moves on, but it never stands still. The risk that comes with growth is minimal when matched with the danger of remaining stagnant, not changing. While the bud is pretty, it is nothing compared to the full bloom.

My bucket baby is growing up, chicks have spread their wings and flown from the nest. Soccer games, DVDs of wakeboarding adventures, and even Driver’s Ed looms - again (God Help me). And that is as it should be. Breaking out of the confines, the big bloom – a growth spurt, of sorts, doesn’t always require a bigger bucket, sometimes a slight shift is all that is needed. Re-position, re-direction, or re-charge. A change will do you good.

by rayannethorn

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