Going Through the Motions

I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to just go through the motions in life. I catch myself doing it periodically in different areas of my life. How “going through the motions shows up for me in:

Work – Just filling out the forms I need to, or meeting with the people I need to, or answering the phone calls I need to and doing enough to get by. Sometimes forgetting that the forms I fill out could literally help prolong someone’s life, or forgetting that the phone call I answer could give somebody the answer to a question they’ve been worrying about for a long time, or forgetting that by meeting with someone, maybe I can help their day go by a little better. I need to remind myself that there’s always more I can do to better myself and help someone else. I’m going to stop my brain when I hear it say “If you answer one more phone call I’m going to ram some scissors through your eye socket.”

Family – Just coming home from work, doing what I need to do to get through the evening and help get the kids ready for bed so that I can crawl into bed myself. Sometimes forgetting that being a dad is without a doubt the most fun thing in the world and that there’s nowhere I’d rather be than with my family, or forgetting to cherish the moment because I’ll never get it back, or forgetting how important it is for me to show by actions more than words that I love my wife and kids more than anything. I need to take advantage of every moment I have with them because I know things change and this valuable time won’t last forever. One day I’ll have teenagers that won’t think Dad is the coolest person on the planet.

Religion – Expecting that I can be lazy but peace and understanding and a relationship with Christ will still come to me. Forgetting that this relationship isn’t going to bash me over the skull with a frying pan, and that if I want happiness, I need to do my part.

The happiest times of my life are the times when I’m “sucking the marrow” out of every second and taking nothing for granted. Carpe diem. It could be like this everyday if I’d let it. I know I won’t be perfect at it but I’m sure going to try.