Life is short....

There are a lot of "modern proverbs" beginning with "life is short..." (so play hard). My two favorite are "life is short, eat dessert first" and "life is short, read fast". Words to live by....

But today I couldn't help thinking about how life really is very short, and then pondering what all I have accomplished in twenty-seven years. Sometimes I get so caught up in the humdrum of life, that I don't think much about what I'm doing from the eternal perspective of things. I find myself so wound up in the tedious rituals of my day that I don't even think about the eternal goal of glorifying God and knowing Him better.

I spent the weekend with my parents, and this morning my mother took me on a tour of her yard. My mother's garden is her crowning glory. Flowers are everywhere, spilling out of flower beds, and making excellent efforts to engulf the entire yard. Every spring, the yard explodes into color with flowers of every sort. I can only recognize a few flowers, but my mother can name every one, and usually tell you who gave her the plant (many coming from the yards of grandparents and other extended family members...some who are no longer with us).

Walking through the yard this morning, I realized how much I miss out. As a child, I took the beauty of the yard, and the hours my mom spent working in it, for granted. Now, as an adult, I spend most of my days in front of a computer, whether the eight hours I spend at work or for entertainment in the evenings and on weekends. I spend hours updating my life on Facebook and Twitter, but walking around in the gardens by the lake, I realized I was missing out on a lot. God has given us a beautiful and amazing array of diversity to enjoy, if we'll just take a moment to look out the window instead of the haze of the computer screen.