memories

Stop and Smell the Roses

Whether you are a workaholic trying to prove something to someone, or someone trying to get rich, someday you will “wake up” and realize just how much you  missed out on by never “stopping to smell the roses”, or by never choosing to slow down and enjoy God, your family, and friends.

Movies and television, video games, shopping, Facebook, surfing the web, etc. are different methods of escape for us, especially when we feel lonely or depressed. However, none of them satisfy our longing for love and deep, meaningful relationships with our family and friends. Instead, when we escape into these things, we often end up getting more depressed, because we wasted the time that we could have spent in God’s Word and prayer, walking, fellowshipping with others, or getting to know our loved ones more personally. Try taking a walk in a park, watching the birds, sitting on a porch swing and talking about your favorite memories, planting a garden together, or just lying down in the grass and looking up at the clouds. Those are just some of the ways that you can find rest, and stop to “smell the roses”.

Seasons of Life

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “For everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Steve and Annie Chapman wrote and sang a song about seasons over 30 years ago.  If you’ve never heard the song, “Seasons of Life”, you should take a few minutes to listen to it today. The song compares the stages of life to the seasons of the year.

“Spring” represents youth when most people are healthy, energetic, and playful; but the young so quickly change to “summer”, and have new interests and responsibilities; then comes “fall”, the time when most people are busy with work and raising their families; lastly comes “winter”, a time of growing old, reminding me of what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 12:1-7:

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,
“I have no pleasure in them”:
2 While the sun and the light,
The moon and the stars,
Are not darkened,
And the clouds do not return after the rain;
3 In the day when the keepers of the house tremble,
And the strong men bow down;
When the grinders cease because they are few,
And those that look through the windows grow dim;
4 When the doors are shut in the streets,
And the sound of grinding is low;
When one rises up at the sound of a bird,
And all the daughters of music are brought low.
5 Also they are afraid of height,
And of terrors in the way;
When the almond tree blossoms,
The grasshopper is a burden,
And desire fails.
For man goes to his eternal home,
And the mourners go about the streets.

6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,
Or the golden bowl is broken,
Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the well.
7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

The days ahead  for someone in this season of life are usually fewer than the days behind. They have lots of memories, but their bodies begin to slow down and wear out. Although I am young in spirit and quite healthy, I am in the early stages of this season. However, I still have such peace, joy, and hope, because as the last line of that beautiful song says, “We’ll see Spring again in heaven, and it will last forever, forever, forever!” What does Spring remind you of? Flowers like daffodils?  New life, like the birth of a baby? Cherry blossoms? Or the Resurrection?