Sunday, July 22, 2012

Put on your walking shoes and forget the watch!


Yesterday, I decided to take a walk. Taking a walk is not an out-of-the-ordinary thing to do, but it is for me. I haven't taken a walk since I was, well, probably since I was in college. Which wasn't THAT long ago, but it has been a few years. I simply walked to the thrift store (I didn't buy anything, mostly because I didn't want to carry it home). I walked the same streets I drive every day, sometimes two or three or four times a day. But as I was walking, I noticed something.

I was seeing things I had never seen before. Even though I drove those streets a few times a day for a year since I moved in, I was seeing things I had never seen before. Some flowers here, a very pretty landscaping job there, or even just neat aspects of architecture on the houses of my neighbors that I never noticed. I also was greeted with a friendly “hello” from a girl on a bike passing by.

My life has been a little slower the past few days, because I have had some time off of work, but have not had much resources to just go and drive places. I've had time to really study out my Bible, pray, clean my house, organize some things, and watch a couple movies that I have been wanting to watch. I have been forced to look in my cupboards and creatively come up with some food victories (and food failures... that I will probably never make again). It's interesting when you slow down to smell the roses.

Sometimes we get too wrapped up in the “busy-ness” of life, that when life slows down we look for things to make it busier, to fight boredom. Our society and culture today has become instant-gratification-oriented. But between the instant oatmeal and instant messaging, I encourage you to sit down and enjoy the slow times. Dare to sleep in. Dare to actually do that project you've been putting off. Challenge yourself to make something new from what's left over in the cupboards instead of going out to your favorite restaurant or taking a trip to the grocery store.

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