It's already halfway through the week, but have you allowed yourself the luxury of slowing down to enjoy just one "moment"? Everyone lives by the go-go-go mentality these days, and I'm trying, so hard, to change that in our family. I want to let my kids take that super long bubble bath that spills out all over the bathroom floor in a flood...not because I want to clean up another mess at the end of a long and exhausting day, but because I see how fast their childhoods flash by and I want them to have memories of spending time together in crazy, messy, relaxed ways.
I love when we are reading great literature together for school and we find a nugget of profound truth in it. Yesterday, while reading "The Phantom Tollbooth" we read this section of the book and I was just floored. My kids were pretty much oblivious to the relevance for our society at large. Considering this book was written in 1961!! it is even more astonishing. This is before the internet, smartphones, streaming television, or social media took over our lives.
"Didn't they have any place to go?" asked Milo.
"To be sure," continued Alec, "but, as you know, the most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between, and they took great pleasure in doing just that. Then one day someone discovered that if you walked as fast as possible and looked at nothing but your shoes you would arrive at your destination much more quickly. Soon everyone was doing it. They all rushed down the avenues and hurried along the boulevards seeing nothing of the wonders and beauties of their city as they went."
Milo remembered the many times he'd done the very same thing; and as hard as he tried, there were even things on his own street that he couldn't remember.
"No one paid any attention to how things looked and as they moved faster and faster everything grew uglier and dirtier, and as everything grew uglier and dirtier they moved faster and faster, and at last a very strange thing began to happen. Because nobody cared, the city slowly began to disappear. Day by day the buildings grew fainter and fainter, and the streets faded away, until at last it was entirely invisible. There was nothing to see at all."
"What did they do?" the Humbug inquired, suddenly taking an interest in things.
"Nothing at all," continued Alec. "They went right on living here just as they'd always done, in the houses they could no longer see and on the streets which had vanished, because nobody had noticed a thing. And that's the way they have lived to this very day."
"Hasn't anyone told them?" asked Milo.
"It doesn't do any good," Alec replied, "for they can never see what they're in too much of a hurry to look for. Juster, Norton. (The Phantom Tollbooth. Yearling. 1996. (pgs 117-118))
So what do you think? Are you allowing yourself time to see things that you are passing by, whether it's on the road or just living our your life inside your own home every day? Or are you walking through, as quickly as possible, just staring at your feet, forgetting what the real world looks like. Make time to look someone in the eye today and speak a kind word to them. Ask questions and wait for an answer. Take the longer route and enjoy some of the stunning fall leaves that are on full display right now. Psalm 90:12 says "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." And I find great wisdom in that. If we are living like this day might be our last, we are certainly making more effort to appreciate the small things, show love to our neighbors, spread joy to the world around us, and making every moment count. So take notice today...it might just be the best day of your week...
