Just
Be
July
25, 2013
Just
be. Stop. Seriously, stop. Breathe.
Sit. Take in your world, right
now, in your current space, the light, the noises, the air. Suck in the calm. Feel
the hug, memorize the laugh, watch the gait, identify the bird, put your feet
up, listen to the words, smell dinner, close your eyes. Why do we not intentionally inhale more? Why does it, too often, take a sickness or tragedy
that actually slows us down? Why do we
choose the established race of running without absorbing? Why not amble along once in a while? Why not take in the dead space of simply
being?
We
live in a competitive, bustling world where schedules demand and the validity of
life comes from how busy you are and how many things you can “accomplish”. I’d like to accomplish a complete absorption
of my moments. A growing love for the
intangible that brings so much joy yet gets zero credit. For example, I want to actually look my child
in the eye and give her all the time in the world to finish her thought, even
if dinner is burning and we have church in thirty minutes. I want to focus myself on her, slow my body
to a halt, and actually hear the words being spoken, how they are spoken, why
she’s speaking them, and the way her whole self gets into the story. I want to memorize that. I would love to grab the camera and video it
but the fact that I’m filming changes everything so I tell my brain to
stop! Look her in the eyes and just
memorize what I see. She is a
creation! She is blessed with so many
gifts and desires and dreams and I’m going to miss them if I don’t stop. She
may miss them if I don’t stop.
This
is the purpose of this blog. To
stop. To absorb. To breath in life, in its entirety. I want to think and marvel and memorize, not
just react, schedule and rush.
I
write short stories. They are little
snippets of time with lessons learned, laughter had, and much taking in of life,
literally moment by moment. Not just
tangible life but the invisible, love one another life.
That is beautiful, Jill, just as beautiful as you are. You being my friend the last 25 years and just being a presence "somewhere out there" during the years we weren't in touch has meant so much to me. I am so glad you made the choice to keep moving forward. You are magnificent and you have touched my life profoundly as I know you have that of hundreds of others. I thank God for you and though because I love you, I wish you never had to experience the hardship and challenges you have, I thank God for them as well as they placed you in my path. I am so excited you are reaching out to countless others through a blog. I will be eagerly following you, knowing that you will continue to touch my life with your incredible wisdom, insight and unquenchable zest for life. I love you! Jeanna Knoll McKinney
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