Christmas lights in November. Christmas lights before Thanksgiving has even passed. Stores already have Christmas decorations and candy and trees ready to sell. Christmas music is already playing on the radio. And Thanksgiving is still a little over a week away. I’m not trying to be a Scrooge but Thanksgiving is getting a little gypped lately. It seems that we are in a hurry and I don’t know why. Why are we rushing life and holidays and these moments that we should be treasuring with our loved ones? Why don’t we just breathe? In and out, in and out. Just relax and breathe, darling.
It’s hard to breathe when all we do is rush everything. We rush to work in the morning and then rush to dinner and we rush home. We rush conversations, not caring if we interrupt someone, as long as we say what we want to say. We rush our goodbyes and I love yous. We rush through our days, just wanting to get the next day done and over with. We rush and rush and rush until we don’t have anything else to rush to. It seems as if we have forgotten how to live. It seems that in our rush to be everything for everyone, we’ve forgotten how to live and love and laugh and cry and be human. We’ve forgotten everything that we’re supposed to remember. Even now, we’re rushing through one holiday just wanting to get to the next one.
Breathe. It’s a simple word really, and an even simpler action. It’s so simple that we don’t even have to focus on it for it to happen, it just does. But how many times do we sit back and be still and breathe? How many times do we put our phones down and stop counting our days and just say “You know what? I’m here and this is now. Now is happening. And I don’t want to miss now just because I’m too busy looking forward to tomorrow.”
Thanksgiving isn’t here yet. Christmas lights are up. Christmas music is playing. Black Friday sales are already announced. We have our Christmas lists made and expect to receive everything we want. It seems that in our battle of one-upmanship with each other, we have forgotten what this time of year is really about. Jesus. Family. Love. Being together. Giving to those who aren’t as fortunate as some of us. Breathing. Yes that simple word.
I am fascinated by the Christmas lights. I love the simple beauty of them. These little, tiny bulbs can create patterns and colors that can make entire towns brighter. It seems that I can lose myself while staring at these lights. But when I lose myself, I’m still. I breathe. And maybe that is what we all need. In the chaos of the holidays, we all need to breathe. We all need to enjoy each and every day because we can’t make today happen again. My mom has these little quotes all over her house, one above her stove says, “Make Today Worth Remembering.” But how can we make today worth remembering when we’re too busy rushing towards tomorrow? It’s simple really, we just need to slow down and breathe. Because if we don’t, we will continue to forget and rush and rush until we have no life left. Don’t waste the little moments of today by looking forward to the big moments of tomorrow.
xxkatiebest.wordpress.com 