May 6, 2013

In life and in work we have hours, minutes, plans and obligations. But love stops the clock. Love is time out of time. In it we measure things not in terms of what we have done, must do, or how soon or late we will do them, but in terms of bliss – of being suspended in a state where time and obligations are irrelevant.

This is one of love’s greatest gifts: that it connects us with the endless eternal; it acquaints us with the beauty of timelessness.

~From 365 Days of Love By Daphne Rose Kingma

Moments can take your breath away. Time stands still. Life stops in its tracks.
To pause and allow your heart to be fully captured in this timelessness refreshes, invigorates, and nurtures you.

The moment can be profound by what it is or what it is not. It could be hearing words from another you have always longed to hear or as simple as looking up through your sunroof at an ideal moment to catch a glimpse of the full moon with a beautiful star hovering just beneath. It could be a peaceful, joy filled family dinner at the end of a hectic day or a spontaneous adventure to splash in puddles in the rain with your children.

These are moments filled with love. When I pause, recognize this is a gift, and breath it in…. my heart is fed, enlivened and forever blessed by a moment in time. How easy it is to miss a moment in the flurry of life, business obligations, mental preoccupations, running ‘to-do’ lists in my head, looking to the next thing of the day rather than being present

Parenting offers a multitude of timeless moments that are easy to overlook. When my girls were little, I had the privilege of being a stay at home mom. This meant I was with them all day every day and yet days could go by without me taking a moment to breathe them in and enjoy our time together. It was all too easy to be consumed by the diapers to wash, rooms to clean, meals to prepare, and errands to run.

Realizing I was missing out on something rich, I committed to set aside a specific amount of time each day to fully immersed myself in them. The phone was not answered and no chores were done. Fully present to them, all our hearts were fed.

Soon this translated into the stolen moments I found for myself. Occasionally, I would go out for a few hours in the evening alone to get some ‘down time’. There were times I would return and feel none the better for my time away. On other nights, I would allow myself to pause and truly relish the silence, bask in the ease of hearing my own inner voice, and embrace the luxury of languishing in my own thoughts and feelings. These were moments that fed my heart because they were filled with love and I would return to my family with my cup full and ready to give again.

My daughters are now grown and life is not as hectic as it once was for me. Still, I find it important to remind myself to pause and breathe in the beautiful moments. My heart is deeply blessed when I fully embrace time shared with my girls, even a simple chatty breakfast before we all head out into the day. Knowing I allowed this time into my heart reassures me that the moment may be forgotten along the way and yet my heart will hold it forever.

What moments in your life truly feed you? Bring bliss to your existence?
It only takes a moment to pause, notice the simple beauty you are surrounded with, and breathe it into your heart where it will live forever.

I encourage you to find at least one moment this week to let time stop, breathe it in, and see what a difference it makes in your world. Then share it here so we can all be blessed by your moment in time!