How busy are you today? It doesn't matter what day it is, we fill it to overflowing with more than we can accomplish. Our home has an anomaly that absorbs time. I have a set amount of stuff to do before I head out the door. It takes a particular amount of time to accomplish. Knowing that things do not always go according to plan I even give myself an extra few minutes to err on the side of caution. However, as I drop into my car and turn the key the clock in the dashboard tells me it took 17 minutes to walk across the driveway to get to the car. How can this be? Now I am 12 minutes late and most days the time loss gets worse, not better. I am a list person. I like order and a schedule. I enjoy spontaneity; I just want it to be planned spontaneity rather than those irregular spontaneous disruptive things in life. Some see me as a bit obsessive. Undisciplined people often feel that way about folks like me. For my defense Ecclesiastes does tell us "there is a time for every purpose under heaven".
To be honest I have been reconsidering these things as of late. I am pretty close to convinced that this may not be how life should be lived. As I follow through the history of Israel I am impressed with all the planning and structure God provides. However, YAHWEH makes it clear that we need time to enjoy Him and one another. He called His people to feasts and festivals all the time. Most of us are aware of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, and living where we do in New York we are a bit more aware of things like Purim, the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Rosh Hashanah. God also tosses in New Moon Festivals just to be sure there was a party every month. And let us not forget the Sabbath. A day to set ourselves apart from labor and have twenty-four hours of rest and refreshment, as well as an opportunity to focus on the Lord and our community. I do not see us coming even close to God's system of planned spontaneity. No, our lives are so full that life becomes a chore or just a mundane existence at best. Yes, we do have those birthday parties, overextend at Christmas, and get those other Federal Holidays off to plan picnics, dinners, trips to relatives, and put that new stone patio in so we can sit at the picnic table and lounge chairs three or four times a year. I fear we have lost the wonder God pours upon us every day.
The dawn of every day should be a moment of wonder. Every tree with its unique foliage expresses the joy of creation. The touch of a friend, the smile of a child, the caress from the one you love, all cry out for us to just pause and see the wonder of our Lord. The Lord of all creation designed us to enjoy what surrounds us all the time. Witnessing a rainbow, hearing the slow steady breathing of the child nestled asleep against your chest, the smell of fresh baked croissants, and that feeling you get as someone strokes your hair. So far from mundane, life can be a perpetual experience of wonder if we just listened to our senses. It does not even need to interfere with our list or schedule; we just need to allow our minds to be at rest enough to take in the beauty of the moment. You can take a moment, just a moment, to ponder the print hanging in a waiting room. Forget the irritation of the wait and marvel at the remarkable features of those around you. Each created in the image of God, yet remarkably unique as individuals. (just don't stare too long, it make people a bit uncomfortable)
As those who claim to love the Lord our God and His Son our Savior, maybe we need to take a hint from His Word and enjoy the things He surrounds us with. Maybe we would benefit from a New Moon event to gaze at the heavens and see His constellations on those darker nights. We have been called to produce. We find satisfaction in the work we do. We have within us some measure to achieve. But, is that to be at the expense of the truly awesome reality our Creature has placed us in? We were not designed to just struggle through some mundane existence devoid of the reality of God. He reveals Himself to us in the moments we are blessed with day by day. Maybe we should pass on trying to seize the day and just enjoy its wonder once in a while.
Well, I have written enough. I do not want to overstate the case. I think it would be better to just take a breath, look out the window and gaze at what is around me for a moment. Today I need to be reminded that I was built for wonder.
So were you.
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