what's the rush?

Everyone is always in a big hurry.  People are constantly cutting me off when driving.  I get passed daily by parents who think taking their child to school is more of a rush than taking my daughter to school.  Everywhere you turn in life, people are running to get somewhere.  Even our government is rushing to pass laws and stimulus packages before they learn what it all means!

So i ask everyone this, What is the big Rush?

Stop.

Look.

Listen.

Learn.

If you race to get through your homework as a child, you will not learn the lesson very well.  

You will fail.  

If you race to get through your life, you will not learn any life lessons.  

You will fail.

I have this desire to just stop and look at life a lot.  I do not fly anywhere anymore.  Although, if it was an emergency, i would take a plane.  But getting somewhere takes time.  It is suppose to take time.  You are suppose to go along with the journey that is your life.  If you stop and watch your children play, you will learn about who they are as children.  Often times i see parents just glance over while their child is playing and then they go on about their life.  They did not notice that their baby put a choking hazard toy in their mouth... and they will not notice until it is too late and they fail as a parent.  They are often times oblivious that their child is the one pulling other children's hair, biting, stealing toys, and just being a bad playmate.  Eventually they will see that they have failed their child by going through their life and by raising their child too fast (or easy) so they can get back to living their fast paced life.

Stop.

Take notice of things that are around you.  Not only your children.  Your spouse, your mother, your father, your cousins, your Aunt, your uncle... your friend that you forgot about because life just got too busy to notice them anymore.  See the cashier who is working hard to ring up your groceries; bag your own groceries for her when you can see they are having a bad day.  Take notice of the person who let you cut over a lane on the highway.  Give them a wave, it won't hurt you... but it probably will make their day if you notice that they were nice to you. Take notice that your spouse is trying really hard to connect with your children even while you are too busy working on your career, your crafts, or your everyday life. Notice your life; good or bad at the moment... it is your life, notice what it is about.

Look.

Listen to your friends who take the time to call you.  Even if you do not answer the phone when they call.  Listen to their voicemail.  Hear the words they are saying.  Feel the words, and if you bother to call them back... take the time to call them back and hear the words that they are conveying to you about their life.  Make the things you hear mean something to you.  Don't only hear your voice talking back to them, hear the message beyond the message in what you are saying and what they are saying to you.  Give the sound a second to sink in when you are listening to the world.  Hear the cars, hear the birds, hear the sound of the washer, hear the way that the wind is moving your house during a rain storm.  Take advantage of a sense some have learned to live without.  Make the way you listen something that others notice about you... don't make it the thing they dislike about you.

Listen.

The most important thing about life, is learning.  I believe that we are put on this Earth to learn.  It isn't a popular belief, but i believe that we live again and again.  Until we learn all that our souls need to learn... we will keep living again and again.  You might not believe this, and that is OK.  Even if you are only learning for this 1 life time.  Learn something.

Learn.

Take advantage of today, tomorrow might need to be faster than yesterday.  Our children are only children for a short time.  When you miss something, you miss it forever.  There is no reset button.  There is no rewind button.  There is only PLAY.  Take your finger off of the FAST-FORWARD button and PLAY today in your life.