So much of savoring something is slowing down enough to experience it. We are on the move in the this house much of the time. This weekend I was given a little gift as I paid at the consignment sale. It was a DVD by Lisa Chan called “Be Still”. I decided to sit down yesterday and watch it.  The irony was that as I watched it I had 5 men jack hammering our chimney outside, the boys asking for “just one more” of this or that and Seth teleworking and having his own set of needs. The DVD was about finding times to be quiet and make time for God.

I am working these days on carving out times when the boys are resting or the house is empty (never) to just sit down and be still.  That isn’t always at home, sometimes it’s on the way home from an errand when Owen falls asleep. I am aware that the radio is still going and I am itching to get home to catch up on emails and respond to texts, it’s in the moments where I am trying to grant myself a little time to not care about all of that. To turn off the radio and just be.

Yesterday as I bustled to pick up Jackson from school on a rainy afternoon I walked briskly to avoid getting too soaked. As I walked up the sidewalk I spotted a bright red leave in the midst of the brown sea of dead crunchy leaves. I stopped dead in my tracks and picked it up knowing that Jackson would love my little gift. As I looked down at it I saw this…

can you see the heart shaped hole?!  I picked it up and carried it with me while I waited for Jackson. I asked if he saw what I saw. He did. I told him I thought maybe God had put that little red leaf there with a heart cut out just to make us stop and remember how much He loves us.  Try to be aware today of the things you notice when you slow down a bit. It’s SOOO hard to do. But I am keenly aware that I have been missing so much… in the stillness.   And that so often prevents me from savoring all of the beauty we have been given.