Just recently I wrote an article for our Inspiration and Faith section called Life in the Pauses. Just last night a part of that article came back to me.
Carman had come and helped me set up a display for our church gathering, and as usual on the drive back he selected the music - not surprisingly, a Led Zeppelin tune. We were less than a block from our drive when he started fast-forwarding the CD. "I just want to hear part of the solo," he told me.
I pulled in, parked, and without a word left the engine running and put my head back and let the music of Stairway to Heaven fill the car. Suddenly I was filled with one of those mysterious God-moments, when I had this heightened awareness of everything around me. In that moment, in that now place and time, I etched a memory of sitting on a summer afternoon with my 16-year-old son, feeling the air-conditioning cool our faces and watching him listen raptly to music he loves.
He smiled and said, "Thanks, Mom", as soon as the solo was over. It's really not over, though. I'm still savoring a moment when I slowed down and paused and felt such gratitude for having my teenage son still at home. I let the moment sink deeply in my heart. Life in the pauses. Oh yes.
2 comments:
I do that, too...just pause for a few seconds here and there to be grateful for...whatever; the cotton clouds in a perfect blue sky, the terrific people God chose to be in my family (my wife and kids), that I'm able to work, etc., etc.
Sometimes I imagine I'm 70 or 80 years old and remembering back to these days--when the kids were young, Melissa and I still had smooth skin and color in our hair (stuff like that). This whole life is just a quick breath, you know?
Hope you and Carman have a happy 4th!
Get someone you know to play "Time stand still" by the band RUSH.
Oh man! Amazing.
"Time stand still... I'm not looking back, but I want to look around me now."
Not to mention the importance of always having Led Zeppelin's albums handy!
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