(photograph: Callaway Gradens Butterfly House, Pine Mt., Georgia/ Julie Cook/ 2013)
“Our deeds disguise us. People need endless time to try on their deeds, until each knows the proper deeds for him to do. But every day, every hour, rushes by. There is no time.”
John Locke
My life has always been so busy–I seem to have rushed through so very much of it—busy with this and that–busy with the art of “doing”—with the majority seemingly having been for things that I now recognize as being not nearly as important as I had once thought—work, school, the countless meetings, rushing here and there–always in a near state of panic as not to be a moment late—
I fear so many of us have lost the art of “living”—we hide behind a charade of what we think is living…but it is truly just a cardboard cutout that is so easily toppled—sadly the illusion is discovered most often too late.
I love this quote by Mother Teresa—“Smile at each other. Smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other- it doesn’t matter who it is- and that will help to grow up in greater love for each other.”
It seems we so often forget to do the small kindnesses for those nearest to us. We are so busy with colleagues, clients, students, customers–that we forget the importance of our own families, often before it is nearly too late—but the tiny saint of a woman reminded us that we need not look far in order to begin important works of peace and love—it begins with the closest—our family–the people with whom we live–seeing, albeit often in passing, everyday…
Take time this week to slow the “rush”, discovering the deeds of what are truly important in your life—not the deed of making time or making money, but for nurturing, loving, caring, listening to those whom you most often overlook…….
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