Too fast

Am I the only one who wishes life would calm down to a walk instead of the headlong rush it seems to be in? When I say this I mean it in so many different ways. 

When I look in the mirror I see an older (yes, wiser, for sure) me that doesn't seem to correlate with the photos taken just 6 short years ago on my wedding. The fine lines around the eyes were less, the skin was a lot smoother... 

When Dylan comes home and I look at my Sweetheart and see the frown lines caused by worries about work and money; the bags under his eyes from late nights spent at the computer; the (VERY few and far between) grey hairs I pluck from his head.

When Jessica asks me a question using words and phrases I didn't know she knew. Where just yesterday, I swear, she was starting to say "Mama". Now I wonder where the 'off-switch' is sometimes. And now I have to apply for pre-school, and all the worries and stresses that go with having such an independent little Miss.

When Nathan disappears from where I put him down. He is only 6 months old. I am NOT ready for him to be crawling! 


 


When I look at my mother. And see that she is unable to do all the things she used to. That though she still professes that everything is hunky-dory, she groans at the ever present back-ache, and can't crawl around on the floor with my children anymore without battling to get up.

 

We all grow older at an alarming rate, and though we are aware that it happens, we aren't aware of it happening, until we take the time to take stock of those around us, and see ourselves as we are, not as we were.

Another scary reminder of time flying is all the missed opportunities:  
This year I am going to do THIS...
Oh! We have to go THERE!
We should really read that... 
see that... 
eat there... 
and before you know it, all good intentions are pushed aside in the humdrum of life and it is months later without any one of those happening. 
We get so caught up in routine. In things we MUST do, that we forget to be in the moment, living, loving those around us, appreciating the fact that we are alive NOW, instead of looking back in 6 years time and wondering what happened...

So, though it is 15 days late (see????) I have decided to make a New Year's Resolution. Or no: a Life's resolution. To stop worrying about the past. Or the future. Stop thinking about what could have been. Stop stressing about what "could happen if..."

Instead, I am going to try live each moment IN the moment. And appreciate it, and the people God has given me, with every fibre of my being. Before it is too late and I look back again and wonder "what happened?"

Who's with me?