Smelling The Roses

 

Maybe you've heard it said that there are two types of women in the world: the "Martha's" and the "Mary's".  (Luke chapter 10: 38-41) Mary seems to be a free spirit and shall I say, people focused.  Martha is focused on the task at hand.  I'm definitely a "Martha".  My life is made up of a continuous list of to-dos (either written down or stuffed in my brain in an unorganized form of chaos).  There is always something to do.  

Don't get me wrong.  I'm most definitely not a "type A" personality.  I'm not a go getter.  I'm not a task master (although my child might disagree sometimes).  I don't thrive on 5 hours of sleep just so I can put together a 20 page scrapbook of my daughter's piano recital that lasted all of 1 minute or to prepare homemade frozen meals for an entire week.  Believe it or not - there are people out there like that (you may even be one of them).  But it's not me. 

I'm the kind of person that seems to always find the importance (or over-importance) in the most menial of tasks.  I create a list and can't truly relax until the list is complete.  Problem is - the list has a hard time getting completed because I keep adding to it.

Sometimes I look back at my life and realize that I've missed out on some of the enjoyment of it simply because I was focused on the "responsibility" of it.  Let's face it - girls just want to have fun.  So does it sound silly to add something fun to my to-do lists?  Maybe I'm the type of girl who just needs to give myself permission to prop my feet up, to take my daughter to a movie, to go on a date with my husband or to eat chocolate for dinner (okay I already do that sometimes).  

We're only here on this earth for a blink of an eye.  It's important to soak up the special moments and treasure them.  In fact, I'm pretty sure there will be more special moments if I actually stop to notice them.  I recently read a book that was heavy on eye-opening insights.  If I had read the book straight through without stopping to chew on what I read, I would have missed 90% of the message.  

Life is like that.  If we don't take moments here and there to absorb what's happening in and around us, it will simply pass us by unnoticed.  This year on my to-do list, I'm going to try my best to stop, smell some roses, and smile as I take in the blessings around me.  I hope you can do the same.