The sounds of children

“Don’t you blog anymore?” I was asked at a recent workshop.
“I have been on a blogging hiatus.” I answer.
She gives me strange look.
“Okay,” I tell her. “I changed my brand from ‘do less,’ to ‘blog less and live more.”
“But that’s not funny,” she tells me.
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll change it back.”

I have blogged less for various reasons.  Reasons familiar to all of us–lack of time, juggling too many commitments, fatigue, low energy. . .

But tonight I sit on the back deck and watch Cedar Waxwings at the feeder.  I smile and remember Henry Miller’s reminder. . .

The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.

Yes.
And every one of us needs reminders.
This blog is a reminder–to pay attention. . .every single day.

Because here’s the deal: Chances are, we pass by life
–the exquisite, the messy, the enchanting, the untidy, the inexplicable–
on our way to some place we think we ought to be.

A seminary student body participated in a day of recollection and reflection. As the Seminary President introduced the guest retreat leader—on a beautiful Saturday morning in spring—he apologized to the seminarians, “I’m very sorry for the distraction and the noise.”

This Saturday—on the seminary grounds sports field—happened to be youth soccer day.  It seems that the President had forgotten to arrange for the local youth soccer program to play their games elsewhere on the day of the retreat.  Which meant hundreds of children on the seminary grounds, and the sounds of play and laughter could easily be heard, echoing and reverberating inside the lecture hall.

But when the retreat leader stood up to begin his first talk of the day, he said, “I think it’s wonderful that the children are here with us this morning. I will not have done my job, if you aren’t able to have a good retreat while you see and hear the sights and sounds of children playing on our soccer fields today.”

Life is full of beauty. Notice it.
Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces.
Smell the rain, and feel the wind.
Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.
Ashley Smith