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Stop And Smell The Rose

Monday, October 30, 2006

Have you ever seen something for the first time after seeing it countless times before? You know, like when you are driving back and forth on the same stretch of road that you’ve been driving for as long as you can remember and then you just have a moment where you notice the beauty of your surroundings? It’s not like you have never seen this scenery before. It’s not like that tree or field wasn’t there the last time you drove by. It’s just this time, you are in the moment, you see it in a way you never noticed before and you think, “Wow! That is really beautiful.”

Well I just had one of those moments a little while ago and it has sparked some significant reflection. I was sitting on the couch in my living room watching my wife get our son ready to go outside. (He’s turning one in about two weeks so it takes a bit to get him ready, but that’s beside the point.) I was watching his movements and gestures and listening to his baby-talk when I was totally caught up in the moment. It’s not like I haven’t seen him grow up and do all these things before. I spend a lot of time with him. I respond to him and attend to him as best as I know how. But as a parent things are always moving and changing and he is growing up so fast that you just find yourself going through the motions, responding to things, reacting to things, doing your job as a parent. Yet, it took me no more than five minutes to see so much more. I had never really sat back and took him all in. I never really rested in the moment and just watched this little guy and when I finally did that’s all it took to put me in total awe - five minutes of gestures and baby-talk.

Needless to say I have spent more than a few times since just sitting and watching him, but that’s not all that was sparked by that moment with Jayden. My reflection has quickly moved to my relationship with Christ. I have worked in a Christian setting for a long time. I know how to live my life in such a way that I look like a good Christian. I’m around Christians all day long - working with students studying the Bible, and professors teaching it to them. I speak in Christian clichés and (sadly) live similarly. It’s like driving that stretch of highway between Saskatoon and Hepburn; it’s so familiar that I never really notice it anymore. I don’t see the beauty, I tune it all out so easily, unless I stop and take a moment to breathe it all in. I can’t imagine doing that with my son. What if I had never taken that moment and had just gone through the motions with him all my life? What a waste! What about Christ? I see Him and work with Him everyday, I know He is here but how often do I take that moment to take Him all in. It reminded me of the saying “stop and smell the roses” (it also reminded me of The 59th Street Bridge Song by Simon and Garfunkel but that, again, is beside the point). I guess I always thought that the important part of that saying was to “stop”. I know now that the most important part is that we “smell the roses”. And if that’s the case, then I guess it’s even more important for us to stop and smell the Rose…

Author: Dave » Comments: