Living in the Moment

Ryan and Matthew

Living in the moment is hard to do---especially if you're the kind of person who is always planning their next "move". I used to be so much more focused about things which, I'm quite sure, made me uptight and anxious. Not that being focused on a particular task is a bad thing, just that focusing our lives right down to the very last detail takes all the spontaneity and joy out of the moment. It robs us of our enjoyment of the RIGHT NOW!

Alex

My 43rd birthday is fast approaching, and as I get older, and as my children grow up, I am reminded almost daily that I will never pass this way again. I will never again be able to seize that exact moment that I lost because I was too busy, too tired, too stressed-out, to be a part of what was happening right then and there.

Matthew

A really amazing and beautiful thing about children is that they don't have to try to live in the moment----they just do! It's as natural to them as breathing. Most children I know have a difficult time trying to put time into perspective because all they understand is right this minute. Sometimes as parents we become exasperated in attempting to explain for the hundredth time that dinner will be ready "in an hour" or we'll be there "soon" or you need to finish up "right away". But, oh, that we adults could throw out the window our concept of time, of the urgent, the necessary, just for....."a little while". If we could learn to play with abandon like our children. If we could learn to get lost in the now.

Alex

"This Day"

by Point of Grace

This day is fragile ~ soon it will end

And once it has vanished, it will not come again

So let us love with a love pure and strong

Before this day is gone

This day is fleeting when it slips away

Not all our money can buy back this day

So let us pray that we might be a friend

Before this day is gone

This day we're given is golden ~ Let us show love

This day is ours for one moment ~ Let us sow love

This day is frail ~ it will pass by

So before it's too late to recapture the time

Let us share love, let us share God

Before this day is gone

Planet Earth

HAPPY EARTH DAY


Do something beautiful today. Plant a tree or some flowers. Commit to a recycling plan for your home. Hang your laundry on the line instead of using the dryer. Talk a walk in nature and as you do listen to the sounds, see the sights, breathe in the fresh air, so you will remember that the earth IS worth saving.

"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect." ~ ~~Attributed to Chief Seattle, 1855

Laundry Lines

Today has been such a lovely Spring day. The sun has been doing its thing since early this morning and there has been a gentle wind most of the day. In other words: a perfect day to hang out the washing.



There is something immensely therapeutic about going through the motions of hanging clothes on a line. It is a gentle, soothing, almost spiritual act. The morning is the best time for this particular activity because the world is mostly quiet, the only sounds being the chirping of the little birds in the backyard trees and the occassional caw from the impatient crows waiting for their morning handout of bread crusts.

When I stand at the laundry line with a basket of clothes at my feet, time seems, not to stand still really, but to just not matter very much. All that interests me is the rhythmic bending, pinning, bending, pinning. And I'm always just a little sad when the last shirt or sock is hung on the line and it's time to go inside. But, too, I feel relaxed, peaceful, as though I've just spent a sacred moment in the presence of the Divine.

On some of my travels with my family to the Amish country in Pennsylvania and Ohio, I would sometimes catch a glimpse of the sturdy handmade clothing pinned to the lines near the large white farmhouses. The dark blues, purples, mauves, greens and blacks flapping in the breeze painted such a lovely picture---not just one of simplicity, but of industry, a life of integrity, and joy.

I think it is an art to find beauty in the simple pleasures that life affords us and that we so often take for granted, simple pleasures like the smell of line-dried sheets. And sometimes, there is nothing more lovely to behold nor more pleasing to the eye than a load of clean laundry pinned to a line by my own two hands, drying in the early morning sunshine.

Rainy Days

I love a good rain! Not a soft, gentle misting, although I do enjoy those, too, but a strong, steady downpour. I love everything about rain; the sights, the sounds, and even the smell of a drenched earth. There is something very soothing about a rainy day---it has a way of calming me, of bringing me back to a place where everything is right with the world. I guess, in a sense, it cleanses my soul.

When I lived in the South with my family, one of my favorite things to do on a rainy summer evening was to sit on the porch and watch the rain falling down. Sometimes, every now and again, I would be treated to a fantastic electrical storm, complete with loud thunderclaps and streaks of lightning. Such a wondrous, exciting display! At night I would lay in bed listening, entranced, as the rain pattered on our metal roof. It was peaceful and somehow reassuring to fall asleep to the rhythm of the rain.

In Humboldt County, California, where I live with my family now, we experience an average rainfall of more than 100 inches per year, with most of that falling between October and April. Relative humidity is high and as a result of our close proximity to the Pacific Ocean, we enjoy one of the coolest, most stable temperature regimes on the planet. It's a rain lover's paradise!

As I write this afternoon, the wind is blowing and a light rain falls. It's that time of year. We are expecting several consecutive days of rain and occassional thunderstorms. After a while there will be puddles where there were none and if it rains hard enough, and long enough, the creeks in some areas may swell until they overflow their banks. But with the rain will come a renewed sense of purpose, of peace, and once again, all will be right with my world.

April Rain Song
by

Langston Hughes

Let the rain kiss you

Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops

Let the rain sing you a lullaby

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk

The rain makes running pools in the gutter

The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night

And I love the rain.

The Great Outdoors

I've been reading a lovely book called Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. The book discusses the fact that many children today are disconnected from nature. Louv goes on to say that that disconnection, that lack of contact with the natural world, has caused untold damage to an entire generation.

In this technological age we live in, where we are bombarded with everything from computers and iPods to satellite tv and video games, it is becoming rare, indeed, that families choose to spend time together in nature. I have known more than one individual who has never been on a family picnic. Never! Picnics are one of the simplest and most pleasurable outside activities----how could someone have missed out on the joy of eating a meal in the "great outdoors"? What a sad comment on our busy, and sometimes shallow, lives.

When my boys were little we spent a large amount of time outside. We lived in eastern Kentucky for nearly 15 years, so we had the privilege of experiencing the four seasons in all their glory. Each season had its own activities that afforded us the opportunity to explore the world around us. We swam in local rivers, floated leaf boats in the creek near our home, enjoyed picnics too numerous to count, built snowmen and makeshift igloos, and walked in the Autumn woods. All three of my sons have known the delight of looking for shapes in the clouds, catching fireflies, building sandcastles, skipping rocks, making snow angels and climbing trees. What wonderful memories I have of those years with my family when my sons were small and the world seemed so big to them, just waiting to be discovered and explored.

Although it is more difficult these days for my family to find time to share together outside, we try to make time. It may just be a short walk on a forest trail not far from our home or, like today, a two-hour strenuous hike through Redwood Park. We may spend an afternoon exploring one of the beaches just a few miles from our front door or a morning of picking blackberries along the river in Blue Lake or simply enjoying a BBQ in our own backyard.

In whatever way you might choose to "get outside", may I humbly suggest....just do it! Take the time to introduce, or re-introduce, your children and yourselves to the beauty of the world in which we live, and share. You will be helping to create precious memories as a gift to your children. I promise that you won't regret it. And one day, when they are grown, you will have the pleasure of hearing the words, "Hey Dad/Mom, remember that time when we............"

NATIONAL PARK WEEK IS APRIL 17-25, 2010. ENTRANCE TO ALL NATIONAL PARKS IS FREE DURING THIS TIME

http://www.nps.gov/npweek/

Visit the sites below to better understand the importance of outdoor play:

http://www.childrenandnature.org/blog/

http://richardlouv.com/

The Gift of Gratitude

It always amazes me what a grateful heart can accomplish~~~

Artwork from: http://homegrownhospitality.typepad.com/

I Pledge To Read the Printed Word

"She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain." --Louisa May Alcott

I love my new widget from I Pledge To Read the Printed Word. As I've said before, I absolutely adore books!

Although I love the fact that technology has made so many advances and is available in so many forms, I truly believe that holding printed material in one's hands helps to create a lasting love affair with the written word. I feel immensely sad for anyone who has never had the bittersweet pleasure of reaching the last page of a beloved book and feeling deep sorrow that the story was finished.

So, take the pledge with me------pick up a book and READ, READ, READ!!