Happy Plan

Leaves, with curly-tips and dappled hues, litter the ground.  Clumps of gold cling as long they can to the hickory tree outside my window.  And beyond the canopy of trees that dance this way and that, splotches of vibrant blue sky peep and disappear and then smile their witty grins once again.

Ezra tried to scoop up sunshine from the floor during the morning's slowly waking lull.  Each time he raised his hand, palm full of the feather-light brightness, it vanished as soon as he tipped it toward his wide-open mouth.  Quivering on his side, arm up to his face, he stopped and looked about as if he had dropped it.  And sure enough, there the golden rays lay upon the carpet's ragged texture.  And so, he tried again.  And again the light spilled out as soon as his palm came perpendicular to his face.

It was quite amusing.  Until, I applied its metaphor to my own life.  I thought of how possessed humans are with time.  In an age where time is measured so precisely and kept close at hand in so many forms, I could see myself trying to scoop up time while it easily slipped through fingers and splooshed down arms.  I thought of how pointless people seem to find sitting in nature and savoring the stress-relieving beauty God created or talking 'til dawn with a friend or making the time to tell a spouse or parent or child "I love you", and yet we quite readily waste hours in front of a computer screen or television set and walk away with little to show for it.

Our days are not eternal on this life.  How do I want to spend the time that I have?  Plucking peace from the perviewed vales and crests or flowering buds and tinkling creeks; encouraging others to share their fragile hearts with a message of hope that this world so desperately needs; sharing life with the people God places in my path and daring to make them smile; cleaning out the clogged innards of my life so that I can shine with a pure heart; savoring the delights of a delicious meal carefully prepared or happy smiles and gleeful tones of my children at play...  There is so much to love about life and there are so many reasons to live and love and laugh. 

Friend, is time slipping through your fingers at a mind-boggling pace?  Stop.  Think about what is good and true and pure.  And dream up a happy plan to grace another's life with a loving act today.