Life Blossom

“Mom, you’re always on the computer!” Laura grumbled.

“No, I’m not.” I defended.

“Every day I come home from school you’re working on the computer.”

“Well, at least I’m here for you!”

My daughter, Laura, twelve years old, was right. Day after day, in my home office, I would stare into space as my hands typed out the thoughts of a presentation or of research completed for an article. It seemed that my work as a writer and speaker cemented my fingers to the keyboard and my mind to valuable ideas. What laura did not realize was that during her day away, I’d also be doing a load of laundry, answering incoming phone calls, cleaning up dirty dishes, crunching an editor’s deadline, sorting the family mail, networking and marketing my speaking service. It was only around three in the afternoon that I’d finally collapse at my desk for a few precious moments of deep thought. Then she’d come in from school.

I prided myself on being available to my children. After all, I am a speaker on child behaviour and parenting. But Laura’s observation stung my conscience. Her perception of me must have been of a mom who was available but unapproachable. Hardly the image I wanted to project. My relationship with my children is more important that any other career.

“Laura,” I called,”come here a minute.”

Out of her bedroom, Laura strolled down the hall to my doorway. I had decided to have her alert me when I was obsessed with work. I wanted her to have the power to let know when she thought I was being aloof.

“So you think I’m preoccupied?’ I asked.

“Most of the time.” came her honest reply.

After I explained my full schedule and the fact that I chose home office to be accessible to her and her sister, I offered Laura this compromise.

“Whenever you feel I’m ignoring you or you need my attention. I want you to hug me,” I said,”Just come up and give me a little hug, and that’ll be our signal that you need me.”

Years later we still haven’t that spoken sign. I’ve become much more sensitive to my daughters’ comings and going. And on the days I’m not, Laura gives me a little squeeze to remind me of the real reason I work at home.

The pure, the bright, the beautiful,
The stirred our hearts in youth,
The impulses to wordless prayer,
The dreams of love and truth;
The longing after something’s lost,
The spirit’s yearning cry,
The striving after better hopes—
These things can never die.

The timid hand stretched forth to aid,
A brother in his need,
A kindly word in grief’s dark hour
That proves a friend indeed;
The plea for mercy softly breathed,
When justice threatens nigh,
The sorrow of a contrite heart-
These things shall never die.

Let nothing pass for every hand
Must find some work to do;
Lose not a chance to waken love-
Be firm, and just, and true;
So shall a light that cannot fade
Beam on thee from on high.
And angel voices say to thee—
These things shall never die.

It’s Friday morning in the year 2025, and you’re running late. You got distracted watching the music video that as playing in the corner of your bathroom mirror while you were brushing your teeth. How will you get to your office at Mega Giga Industries on time?

A quick check of your Internet-connected refrigerator magnet tells you your train which travels at speeds up to 250 miles an hour as it electromagnetically hovers above its guide track is a bit behind schedule, too. So you decide to drive your environmentally-friendly hydrogen fuel cell car instead or rather, let your car drive you. It’s programmed to know the way, and it will get you there without speeding, getting lost, or crashing.

Settling into your office chair, which changes color to match what you’re wearing, you pick up yesterday morning’s newspaper. Printed on reusable electronic paper, it instantly rewrites itself with today’s headlines. Now it’s time for your big meeting. Uh-oh! You’ve left your handwritten notes at home. No problem. The digital ink pen you used has stored an electronic copy of what you wrote.

Your wristwatch videophone suddenly rings. Your best friend’s face pops up on the organic light-emitting diode screen asking what you’re doing this weekend. Will you slap on your 3-D contact lenses and play virtual soccer with the U.S. Olympic team? No, no. Your friend says, so you have to take the new nanotube elevator (made of microscopic fibers many times stronger than steel) 60,000 miles into space.

Could this scene really take place in just a couple of decades? The researchers who are currently developing all this stuff think so. These gadgets may be as common in 20 years as cell phones and DVD players are today.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the good living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime. Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, Later. Now go get washed up for dinner. There would have been more I love you’s… More I’m sorry’s … But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every  minute… look at it and really see it … live it … and never give it back.

Stop sweating the small stuff. Don’t worry about who doesn’t like you, who has more, or who’s doing what. Instead, let’s cherish the relationships

we have with those who do love us. Let’s think about what God has blessed us with.

And what we are doing each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally, as well as spiritually.

Life is too short to let it pass you by. We only have one shot at this and then it’s gone. I hope you all have a blessed day.