STOP!!!!

 
I want you to stop what you're doing right now, and I want you to take a look outside???

No matter where you are, just simply look outside your window, or step out into the front or back yard. Just look around you and take in every single thing.

The blue sky, or the dark clouds. The birds flying above, the green trees, the grass beneath your feet, the little ant making it's way across the driveway, a dog barking, a beautiful flower swaying in the breeze.

Just stop and look!

Now ask yourself how many times you do this?

Just how many times do you actually take a moment to see what is around you, to notice nature, to notice God's work in action?

We live in such a fast paced life, always in a hurry, always busy, always needing to be somewhere else than where we are at the moment.  It's a flurry of movement, cars zooming by, people talking hurriedly on cellphones, rushing at the grocery store, rushing home, fixing a quick dinner, sometimes hardly saying a word to their family.

Days turn into nights, back into days and back into nights and before you know it, weeks, months, years have gone by without you ever stopping to appreciate life.

I've made it a habit to stop, to look, to smile, even if for just 5 minutes, and to thank God for what I have in my life and for what is around me.

When you learn to look at things through the eyes of a child, you will be surprised at what you've been missing.

Grass seems more greener.

Sky seems bluer.

Flowers are more gorgeous than what you remember them.

Ants are not just an annoyance anymore, they are a work of art.

So please, if nothing else today, just STOP!  Look at what you've been missing and make a conscious decision to appreciate life more, to not let days slip by.

I look at everything that surrounds me with new eyes, I try to really see it for what it is, not just glance and move on.

An intricate design on a picture frame, the gorgeous dark green of the rosemary plant as it dries on my kitchen curtain rod, the beautiful pastels of the flowers on the curtains and how it all looks against the wood of the cabinets.

Or in the evening, when darkness sets in and I turn on the lamp watching the soft orange glow wash over everything....a book looks more decadent, more inviting.  It brings me comfort.

And I just hope that when you read this post today, that you will choose to enjoy life more.  That you start really seeing things around you.  Snap pictures if you will, capture those moments for eternity, remember to enjoy the NOW, for the future will come way too fast!