off the merry go round

As a child, I looked forward to summer. My parents would take my brothers and me to Coney Island (an amusement park in Brooklyn) for simple, joyful family moments. One of my favorite attractions was the merry go round. My favorite animal has always been the horse, and riding those painted horses felt like the real thing. I loved it then, and honestly, I still do.

One summer, we attended a local fair. Knowing how much I loved horses, my mother bought me a ticket to ride a real pony. At last, I thought, I will be a real cowboy.

But as I approached the pony, something felt different. This horse was not shiny like the carousel horses. He smelled bad. He looked tired and unhappy. I was nervous. Very nervous. Still, I climbed on.

The ride was not smooth or magical. The pony did not glide up and down like the merry go round horses. He walked slowly in circles, even stepping in his own mess again and again. By the second lap, I cried out, “Mommy, get me off of here!”

That childhood memory taught me something I still carry today. If we are not careful, we can live artificial lives that look beautiful on the outside but never move us forward on the inside.

Some people spend years riding painted versions of life. Everything looks polished, controlled, and predictable, but nothing is actually changing. Others feel trapped in cycles, repeating the same patterns, the same mistakes, and the same exhaustion, unsure how to move forward.

Both are forms of being stuck.

God did not create us to live artificial lives, bound by illusion or trapped in repetition. He created us to move forward with Him.

The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 3:8 that he counts his past as loss compared to knowing Christ. And in Romans 12:2, we are reminded to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Real transformation requires leaving circles behind.

Years later, as an adult on vacation in Jamaica, I rode a horse again, this time along the beach. The horse was strong and healthy. We rode freely along the shoreline, splashing through the water. The horse enjoyed the ride, and so did I.

That moment reframed my childhood memories. The merry go round was artificial motion. The tired pony was circular motion. But the beach ride was something different entirely. The horse was guided, harnessed, and led, yet completely free to run forward.

That is the life Christ invites us into.

Freedom is not the absence of guidance. It is the presence of direction.

When a horse trusts its rider, it does not lose freedom. It gains purpose. It goes farther than it could alone. It experiences terrain it would never reach by walking in circles.

When your life is surrendered to the right hands, you stop walking in circles and start moving forward.

Jesus does not come to confine your life but to lead it. Not to restrict your future but to expand it beyond what you could imagine on your own.

A life led by Christ is not restrained. It is released into purpose.

Today, I encourage you to step off the merry go round. Break the cycles that keep you stuck. Trust the One who knows where you are going even when you do not.

The life God leads is not artificial. It is not circular. It is not miserable or aimless.

It is guided. It is purposeful. And it moves forward.