Space of a Second...November 25, 2021

Last year I would have said that I was a pretty grateful person, decently so at least. Adequate in my thanks. Then I lay on the couch for a few months and stared at the ceiling.

Day after day blessings paraded in front of me, one after another. My heart sighed. How could I have missed seeing that and this and that and more, I wondered sometimes with tears.

Mostly I hadn't paid enough attention to all the love around me, at least on the really busy days. Maybe it was because love often comes in quiet ways, rather than cymbals and drums. A sweet gesture or a kind word or a small favor. A compliment that we shrug off instead of smile and say thank you, thank you, thank you.

And in the midst of our political arguments, annoyances of just getting practical stuff done, climate change, road rage and on...we can so very easily take our eye off the ball. We are human, it happens, it just does. To forgive ourselves is of utmost import, after all. And not to mess around with regret for one minute.

But today, I oh so urge us to try our best to soak in our time, whatever it is for us. We have life today, a gift of the highest order. While we might face trouble, sometimes deep terrible frightening trouble, there are blessings if we stop a minute, breathe slowly and look around. Make a list, count and write them down.

Someone asked recently what I learned this year. I laughed and wondered, sort of confused and dazed at the magnitude of lessons. But one thing that became crystal clear is that our lives deserve some urgency on our part. We are remarkably good at pretending urgency doesn't mean us. But it does, it does, all of us.

So make the call, really notice and gaze at the trees, taste the turkey, say I love you near and far, most of all, lavishly or quietly, but say it.

And always, always whisper thanks, even if a feeble one is all we can manage some evenings.

Though our eyes might shut fast, there is still that mere space of a second to say thank you, thank you and I love you once again.