Don't Take Life Quickly

Do you ever feel like you are always focused on the next thing in life? It's like you can't slow down and appreciate moment by moment because your mind is on what is coming next. This is a noteworthy quote by St Zelie Martin: "It is better to use the present time well, than to think so much about the future."

I was struck by this concept recently when spending time with children. For with children, they are totally focused on the moment. Whatever they are doing, they are doing it completely, not with their mind on next week or next month or next year. It simplifies things, don't you think? Children teach us so much, and this is an important lesson I learned, to focus . . . because if you blink you miss it. You can spend so much useless energy thinking and worrying about the future, that you never really live at all.

We shouldn't be in a rush to get to a certain part of our lives. I often think about the years Our Lord spent working as a carpenter, the immense patience that must have required. He could have accomplished our redemption in an instant, but He lived day in and day out a simple, hard-working life. Why is that beautiful? Because it gives meaning to every seemingly insignificant stage of our life. His public ministry was practically speaking a very short period of His life, obviously leading up to the most important part, but that doesn't make the rest of His life any less important.

It's good to have dreams and goals and hopes for the future. We want to plan and prepare for our lifelong vocations, but we don't want to miss what we have now. If you find yourself like me with a constant itch to complete the next stage, then realize if we are always thinking about what we don't have, we're taking life too quickly . . . and we just might miss what's right in front of us.