The Hurry...

Today I spent  a couple hours in the mall.  I had no urgency, just killing time while Wallace worked.  I strolled from store to store, window shopping and made my way to The Cheesecake Factory.  On the way out the door from the mall to the restaurant, I met a girl who hurriedly scrambled through the door.  She appeared rushed as she barely said thank you to me for holding the door open.

Shortly after, as I stood in line to place my order for a slice of heaven to go, the same girl stood behind me in line.  Money in hand, she seemed exasperated as the lady in front of me took her time looking over all of the different kinds of cheesecake.  (Let's be honest.  If you've never been to the Cheesecake Factory, this isn't just any cheesecake.  There have to be twenty different selections.  And they all look good.  And you can get them in different sizes. This is not a decision to be taken lightly).

Anyway, I gave the lady behind the cash register my order (one piece of Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate cake Cheesecake) and stepped over to get out of the way. I almost ran over the lady who had been impatiently standing behind me, as she told another server behind another cash register her order.  "I'm sorry for talking over your head, " she told me. "I'm just really in a hurry."

Maybe I should have let her go in front of me, but hindsight is 20/20.  This whole ordeal made me think, though.  Is that what I look like all the time, as I rush from here to there in a hurry?  Do I make people think I'm too busy for their needs? I'm afraid that a lot of the time, I do.  You see, the mind is a crazy thing, and it can totally convince us that we have to be in that hurry mode. 

As I've been contemplating gratitude, though, and grace, I realize that as we hurry through life, we miss those small moments of gratitude.  If we are in too big of a hurry, we don't get to appreciate each moment as it stands.  We miss the feel of the sunshine on our face, or the laugh of the small child, or the taste of that cheesecake as it slides off the fork.  Overcome by our need to do more, and be more, and get more, our senses are unable to grasp the goodness, the Godness, around us. 

Lord, help me not to be too hurried to see You in the everyday, in the mundane.

Today, giving thanks for my parents.  Also, for cheesecake and new jackets and heaven in a bookstore, for three hour drives with Wallace playing with my hair and nothing good on the radio... for knowing exactly what he was going to say about the belt on the lady taking our order at Arby's and the sunset in the background as we drove across this great Bluegrass state. For little Will, so small in my arms, and my too-big boy who almost stands as tall as me.  Your blessings are many. Help me not forget...