As I was washing the dishes the other day, I looked out the window and spotted our cat, Beauty. She was just wandering around as cats do, sniffing things and just observing. Then she took a moment to just sit. Though I have no idea what she was thinking, I imagined that she was pausing to take in her surroundings and appreciate a slight breeze that blew in the midst of the hot weather. In that moment, I learned yet another reason from my cat.
Too often, I think we rush through life, attending to our busy schedules, bank accounts, and endless “to do” lists. It is definitely important to get things done and accomplish our goals. But I think in our constantly busy lifestyles, we can miss some of the awesome things going on around us. And even if we happen to catch a glimpse of something worth stopping for, such as my cat pausing, we see it as ‘normal,’ ‘common,’ and without significance. Even the things we have to do become part of the background of life, and we become bored with life and its tedium.
I heard a story in a sermon by Priscilla Shirer years ago that has stuck with me. She and her husband had traveled someplace where she was supposed to preach. The hosts got her from the airport and situated at the hotel. She and her husband laid down to rest, but they were awakened by a train that ran multiple times through the night near the hotel. In the morning, when her hosts came to pick her up, she mentioned her trouble sleeping because of the train, and her host made a surprising remark: we’re so used to the train that it doesn’t even shake us anymore. Have you fallen asleep in your own life? Are things such a routine that the things in life that you used to bring you excitement are now just chores to check off the list?
In her song “I Hope You Dance,” Lee Ann Womack says, “I hope you never lose that sense of wonder, you get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger, may you never take one single breath for granted…” The whole song is about really appreciating the world around you and keeping your sense of awe in spite of the tedium that life can bring. Look at things through new eyes, get a change of scenery (whether by taking a vacation or just taking a different route home from work), take time to color, visit a park, volunteer with children… Often all we need to rediscover our sense of awe is to have a change of perspective. I have no idea what it takes medically for me to breathe, but I’m thankful for each breath I take – the fact that it’s not labored, the fact that I don’t have a machine breathing for me, the fact that it doesn’t hurt, and the fact that I don’t have to make myself breathe because my body takes care of that for me.
While I understand that life is full of demands and things that must be done, I think it’s well worth it to find 5 minutes each day to find something to be in awe of. It could be refreshing your love for the people in your life, enjoying a sunrise/sunset, finding a life lesson in a cartoon, discovering new life in an old song or scripture, watching something like “Extreme Makeover” to see the capacity of humans to love one another, or anything else that lets you once again see the beauty that this world has to offer.
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