Random Thoughts Happen

Wow, has the last few months flown by or what?!  My husband and I spent a week in Maine at the end of October.  While it is a little cold for the beach, I went anyway.  Hurricane Sandy came and went.  Then a Nor’easter(someone actually named it Athena).  Within a week and  a half the landscape around my house went from beautiful colors in the leaves to all the leaves on the ground and some ice forming in my dogs water bucket. All of this brought on random thoughts of how fast paced my life is.  Does life really need to be on the superhighway going 100mph?  Nope, thats not how I want to live. I want to enjoy every moment .

Easier said than done.  I can reflect on every season of life and see that I always said I want to enjoy every moment but felt like it was totally out of control.   But what I have learned and will not take for granted is living in the moment.   Now I am not knocking  the person who has a ten year plan and follows it.  What I am saying is don’t be so forward focused that you miss the wonderful life God has given you at this time and place.

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned is from very small children when they experience new things for the first time. While Brian and I were in Maine there was a young couple with a child of about 18 months walking on the beach.  At first the child was in the stroller, the parents pushed her down toward the ocean and began to walk the shoreline.  Within minuets the little girl wanted out of the stroller.  Mom lifted her out and held her hand to walk.  The little girl did not want to move.  She sat down at the waters edge touching the sand watching the ocean roll in and out.  Then she noticed the gulls on the beach. She jumped to her feet and ran as fast as little legs can go toward the gulls.  Of course they flew away and she just started running in the direction they were flying.  Her mom was right behind her trying to turn her attention to the opposite direction.  However, she did not stop her daughter from running after the gulls. Mom followed the little girl until she seemed to grow tired of it and then found something else to focus on. The little girl had been laughing the whole time she was running.  This child was in no rush to walk the beach.  I commented to the Mom that her little girl seemed to be on her own mission.  We talked a little and the mom explained that this was the first opportunity they had to bring this little girl to the beach.  All the things we may take for granted the smell of the ocean, the feel of the sand, the sound of gulls and the sound of the waves was all new to this child

I know that this story is probably not new to some people as it is for me.  But for some reason God has reminded me of how important it is to see things through the eyes of a child.  Hey before you know it we will be shoveling snow and putting up the christmas tree.  I hope I can remember to have the eyes of a child while shoveling snow. 🙂