Life Moves Pretty Fast -- Don't Miss It!

In the words of the great philosopher, Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you'll miss it!" That wisdom is so true, and unless you're my age, or more, you may not give those words a second thought now.....but give it a few years, and believe you me, you'll understand them and you'll be glad you did or you will regret NOT stopping and looking around!

I'm just so thankful I come from a long line of folks who did recognize the importance of living each day as if there were no tomorrow. I remember it being a big deal for my parents to be sure to go see their elderly parents often. I remember them visiting close friends and family, regularly, and them coming to visit us. I remember our big family reunions. Those were "matters of the heart" that are still with me today. We're still living each day to the max!

We just returned from our several days at Beaver's Bend State Park in Broken Bow, OK. We had a glorious few days of early morning fishing (at the crack of dawn), kayaking or other adventures in the afternoon, and more fishing after 6 pm. We hauled in a mother-lode of trout in all the various "fish hole" locations.

My daughter, Staci, is a master angler, with "fish" patience and "fish" intuition. I'm convinced she is a "fish whisperer" because when all lines are in the water, with the same bait on the hook -- you can count on hers being the bait of choice by those hungry trout. I'm also convinced her daddy, in heaven, has much to do with the magnetic draw of fish to her lines as she sits with her dad's fishing pouch in her lap. It touches my heart so much.

Larry says "You ready to go fishing?" She responds "Morning, noon and night!" You know you're a "red neck" when your biological clock is set to the time that fish are feeding. I'm so proud of this girl for so many reasons, but here in the great outdoors, I see her not as the girly, girl on the outside, but the girl that lives out loud with every breath she breathes. She's an adventurer and outdoors-woman to the core, so just the thought of those fish being there for the taking, keeps her on high alert. She has the map identified with the fishing spots -- good, better, best locations, based on our own experience.

Payton and his friend, Matt, are both 18 now, so they enjoyed being on their own and they hauled in a mass of fish, too. I caught a few fish which satisfies my need to fish and Alexia, our artistic, free-spirited girl -- enjoys taking photos, fishing a little, taking the fish from the fishermen and putting them on the stringer. It's all about a time of slowing down from a life that moves pretty fast and we're not missing it.

Like Ferris Bueller said, "If you don't stop and look around, you'll miss life." Life is everywhere -- in little kids, in our loved ones and friends, in our surroundings and in everything that God made. We embraced being in nature -- watching the crane on the water in his stealth mode as he'd target his fish lunch, the birds were chirping, the many deer and fawn that crossed the road, the squirrel that was eating out of our hands, the turtles in a circle on a huge rock in the water, a raccoon eyeing our trash, a beaver and a hawk that were zeroing in for the fish on our stringer, the clear, flowing waters and the enjoyment of each other -- making more memories that will carry on for generations, I'm sure.

That's the stuff that life and God's goodness is made of -- living with a grateful heart in the ups and downs, and enjoying the littlest of things that makes the biggest of things seem so trivial. How awesome it is to "Look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!" Psalm 27:13. So, to put John Wayne's "Daylight's a'wasting" to scripture words, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!"