Picking Up Sticks

Why are we picking up sticks again? Didn't we just do this last weekend? Why do they need to be picked up anyway?

This about sums up the conversation between my sister and I when we were young. Picking up sticks is something we did when we weren't otherwise engaged in a productive activity. Don't get me wrong, we had our down time. Our time to watch cartoons, play and be kids. It was the time that we were glued to the television for long periods of time that we would end up picking up sticks.

This was dad's way of getting us out of the house and making us be active and productive. It wasn't really about picking up sticks. We could have done that 24/7 with all of the trees we had. It was about teaching us, there was always something better to do with our time than wasting it.

It made me think about life and how we can become unproductive in our lives. We get stuck in a routine, we do the same things, we waste time with empty activities. We have a lot of "dead sticks" hanging around. Removing that dead wood is necessary to get back to being productive. 

Is it time pick up your sticks and get to what is really important? For me, it is a constant process. Things (activities, etc.) grow and then need to be trimmed back so the foundation (trunk and roots) can keep growing and become stronger. We grow as individuals when we nourish the important pieces and pick and remove the dead sticks. 

Why are we picking up sticks again? Because we need to, they collect fast...