I eat too fast. Really fast. Dinners at my house are like a sprint. By the time we get the kids home around 6 from pre-school. We rush around the kitchen putting dinner together as fast as we can. The kids are starving and we to get them in the bath tub in 45 minutes or less to make bed time. Kelli and I move around our kitchen like old synchronized swimmers going through a familiar routeen performed hundreds of times. She unloads the dishwasher from the night before and I prepare the meal. We swing back and forth, gracefully dodging each other and stepping over small children at our feet. Ava, our almost 5 year old, vies for our attention by showing us her work from school and Colt, our 10 month old, unpacks the lower cabinets decorating the floor with pots, pans, cracker boxes, and packs of oatmeal. Dinner hits the table in shifts. We give Ava some of her food first, because she takes the longest. She finds life too exciting to waste it by putting food in her mouth. She would rather play, sing, or talk about…. nothing. Colt is on deck, still decorating the floor. More food is complete… enough to place Colt in his high chair and for him to immediately shove food in his mouth like he has been stuck in a cave for weeks after rationing a pack of crackers. Now it’s the grown ups turn. The table is set, the food is hot, we pray and then something happens. One of the children need something, has to go the bathroom, or starts to cry. My food has time too cool after multiple trips back and forth to the kitchen or other places. When I do sit down, I find myself eating faster than Colt. By this time we only have a few minutes remaining before bath time and Colt is a ticking time bomb in a high chair. Because I want to enjoy my food while its hot, I don’t get a chance to savor the food I worked so hard to prepare. It’s not always chaos. There are moments when all is quiet and peaceful. There are moments filled with laughter. There are special moments that Ava randomly says something that warms my heart or Colt learns something new. There are even moments that Kelli and I lock eyes with each other and her smile takes me back to simpler times. Then Colt is DONE. He lets us know by pushing the remaining pieces of food off his tray on to the floor and begins to protest. He is ready for bath and the rush to bed begins.
I think we do this with life sometime. Rushing to the next event, task, or project. Never stopping to savor the moment. We rush through this beautiful world sometimes without stopping to breath in the aroma of life or soak in the beautiful landscape God painted for us. Stop. Reflect. Linger… Let God’s beauty be soaked in your Soul today.
