…UNBELIEVABLE….
In this world of doubters, haters, false people, and problems there is always…ALWAYS something to marvel at.
We see science making leaps and bounds into fantastical realms. Machines that think, gadgets that just leave us in plain wonder, and EVERY sort of thing that man can dream becomes a reality.
We have cars that drive themselves, fly, or cross rivers…we have so many modern marvels that we sometimes fail to see the ones at our feet.
People have come to rely so much on their technology fueling their lives that we have forgotten about the FREE things…the NATURAL things all around us. We sit and stare at pictures of the natural wonders….we watch them in high definition on our televisions…we follow them on our laptops or ipads….but do WE ever GO to these place OURSELVES?
We have become so dependent on our cars that we seem to forget WE HAVE FEET. I actually saw a person go out to their car, get in, and drive ONE BLOCK to a store just to pick up a jug of milk.
Can it be that we have become so LAZY that we cannot get up off of our sofas to actually WALK to a store?!?!?
Now, where I live we have an EXCELLENT public transportation service…for the price of a pound or two you can travel all over this city..but I WALK just about everywhere I need to get to….reason?…BECAUSE I MAY MISS SOMETHING I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE.
A sunset is still free (at least until the government decides otherwise 😀 )and trees still produce beauty….flowers still grow…and the ocean still does what it does…so why do people NOT want to go to these places except on special occasions? We are in such a hurry to get somewhere that we miss the entire POINT of the trip…TO SEE. We overlook the people that pass us by…and so our world shrinks. We look past what is along the way…and so our focus becomes smaller and smaller. We get to where we were going and only want to sit there with our faces glued to a phone, or Ipad…or computer…and we forget that we are here to have FUN.
When I was a kid we sang in the back seat…read books…played “road games” or “travel games” we made up along the way…. TALKED with our families along the way. Now kids are glued to a TV attached to the back seat…they sit there with headphones on and phone/computer in hand and ignore the rest of the family.
We have so very few days in our lives. Our lives are a time clock that starts ticking the minute we draw our first breathe, and we NEVER know when the ‘alarm’ is going to go off, or the clock run down, and we just WASTE our time in between.
They say a man who is most alive is the one who helps others…the one who is AWARE of everything going on around them.
What can we say, when we are old, what we DID with our lives? Did we help others? Speak out against cruelty? Try to stop the madness we see flourishing EVERYWHERE?
It is by my faith alone that I see these things…otherwise I would be just as guilty as everyone else who turns a blind eye…
FAITH is the most interesting thing a person can have. We have become so JADED by these wonders around us that we forget to APPRECIATE them. Remember those movies about “The Dark Continent”? How it was all lush green jungle filled with animals and adventure? They are almost all gone, while we looked the other way.
Remember those snowy endless plains filled with Polar Bears and Penguins? Almost all gone too… Those snow capped mountains teeming with possibilities? Gone.
IN OUR LIFETIME we have become SO DETACHED from our world that we have simply ALLOWED these things to go the way of the Dodo bird.
Before we can even blink our world is vanishing around us. And what will be our legacy to our grand children? A desert where once was a forest….a hole where our favorite swimming spot once was…a parking lot where our playground used to be…a convenience store where our childhood home was…
We blink, and suddenly we are through high school…we blink again and we are married and have a job and responsibilities….we blink again and our kids are heading off to their first day… blink: they are graduating college….blink: and THEY are parents…blink: we are retired and growing older by the day…blink: someone we love is gone and we are alone again, because our kids are ‘too busy’ or ‘cannot be bothered’…and then, finally…blink: and WE are gone.
Where I am taking this? We need to SLOW DOWN…TAKE TIME to TREASURE our lives, our families, OURSELVES…BECOME AWARE of what is changing in our world and MAKE A DIFFERENCE…SPEAK UP…BECOME A VOICE to stop these things from vanishing.
We need to put down the phone, close the laptop, ESCAPE from the mechanical ties that have chained us and actually GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING WORTHWHILE!
When last I blinked I was a soldier, young and eager. My years lay stretched out before me like gold…then I blinked again and I was a father….blink: my grandparents were gone…blink: my health became frail…blink: my hair had grey in it and my wife had few more lines on her face. I tell you…it makes me afraid to blink again for fear I may not see her at my side.
This is why I take my time..I live a SIMPLE life. I go for walks in parks, woods, the sea just to SEE it. I do not rush. I take my time and open my eyes.
To put it plainly, friends, unless we open our eyes, we may miss something…something wonderful, something new, or something we will only miss when it is gone…
LIVE…do not merely live…
Peace be with you all….
Friar Jeff's Quiet Spot 