We have a small playground in our backyard. It’s a fairly unique playground. I built it a few years back for my boys out of scraps left over from construction jobs I did. There is a small set of monkey bars, a slide, two levels, and a few swings. However, they were just at the age where they weren’t too interested in the playground, so it sat basically unused for a while. I didn’t want to get rid of it, or leave it at our old house, so when we moved a few years ago, we brought it with us. Little did I know, the little girl who had just entered our life would find immeasurable joy in that playground. I dismantled it, reassembled it at the new house, and upgraded the monkey bars.

My wife, Jerelyn, often says that I didn’t know it at the time, but I built that playground for our daughter. She loves it. She camps out on the bottom level, climbs up to the top, and slides down the slide. Over and over again. But one of her favorite things to do is swing.

“Swing me, Daddy!”
She loves to swing. Back and forth, as long as you will push her. We haven’t quite mastered the swing-on-your-own-using-your-legs concept yet, but she’s getting there.

As I was pushing her on the swing the other day, I couldn’t help but smile at the sheer joy on her face and in her heart, just from swinging. Just back and forth. The same motion. Over and over again. She doesn’t tire of it. I dare say she would swing everyday if the weather was right and she had the opportunity. I don’t really care to swing that much. I get bored with it pretty quickly. Sometimes I even get bored with pushing her. I’m literally just standing there pushing her over and over. But it got me thinking about the joy of a child in the repetition of something as monotonous as swinging. It caused me to slow down and see something deeper.

Recently, I was listening to a sermon by Kevin DeYoung from the Together for the Gospel Conference (online). The sermon is titled “The Never-Failing, Never-Changing, All-Surpassing Goodness of God” and you can find it here. He made reference to a quote from G.K. Chesterton about the joy that children often find in monotony. My mind immediately made the connection to my daughter and her incredible joy and laughter while she is swinging back and forth on the swing. Here’s the quote…

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

What an incredible thought! God is inexhaustible in His goodness because he is God, and He never tires of the ramifications of His never-changing goodness.

In the Bible, God’s goodness is all through the story. The psalms particularly highlight this attribute.

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100:5 (ESV)

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Psalm 34:8 (ESV)

These thoughts are what come to my mind every time I hear my daughter exclaim “swing me, Daddy!” Even though swinging for me isn’t that great, as much as I am able, I am determined to find joy in being part of her swinging. For in this simple act, I am consistently reminded of the never-failing, never-changing, all-surpassing goodness of God in the simple things. The little things. The mundane things. The beautiful things.