Innocent fun. Simple times. Family and friends. Back yard antics. Camping with family. Vacations. Walking to parks. Playing in the street till dusk. Drinking from the water hose. Have we forgotten how fragile these things are, or did we just think they would always be there?
Campfires with our family, movie night, family vacations, friends, birthday parties, overall, TIME spent with each other. Time. Fragile, and on the brink of distinction.
Where did those days go and how did we end up where we are? Kids, at a young age alone, on the streets, families spending more time on the phones and work, than with their kids. Husbands and wives spending more time away from family using the phones as a distraction...and sometimes that leads to other avenues that we won't go down... Choosing to sit in front of the tv, computer or phone instead of getting outside, on the road, at the game, on the dance floor etc.
Where did Sunday dinners go? Where did family vacations go? Did this pandemic give us a reminder of what is really important in life? We were forced to stay home, work from home and spend time with basic things. Reading became popular again and families sat down to dinner together. Grills fired up in the back yard while dad cooked and mom and the kids played outside. Church, which was once for in person services only actually became more popular and gained hundreds of thousands of new members of Christ, throughout the world because of the online attendance. Hmmm. Food for real thought here.
How many people met Jesus because of the pandemic? Meaning, turned their lives around because of something they watched online...how many husbands found time for their wives again and visa versa? How many older siblings found time to play with their younger siblings? How many homes became actual homes again? I would imagine, a lot. Simple times, are where we make memories, where our kids have something to grow up and tell their kids about. Something where they can reminisce when they are old and in the rocking chair.
Now that we are coming out of the pandemic, somewhat, let's not forget what was most important when we thought we would lose those things. Let's focus on the family, the memories and the simple times spent together. Let's make more of those by putting the phones down, taking time off from work, going to the plays, going to soccer games, taking your wife/husband out on a date, building a treehouse, fishing, etc. I'm not saying we shouldn't work or that phones are bad, on the contrary, really things aren't bad unless we misuse them, right? Limitations, timelines, guidelines, are all good things.
Whatever simple times you can grab, lets do it. Let's not forget just how fragile time really is. Let's not lose it, let's preserve it. We won't regret it when our kids or grandkids remind us in our silver years what a great life they had, because of the time we spent with them. Wives and husbands will cherish each other again, and friends will too.
Perspective, and again, limitations, timelines, guidelines-- all good things to prevent losing such a fragile thing. Time. We don't get it back. Make every moment count.