Life has so many details that we tend to overlook - details like warmth of fresh printed paper, the glory of fresh coffee that ruminates its aroma in an early morning, the stillness of summer nights, the inevitability of an empty gas tank, tyrannous traffic on a Monday morning, the coo of a baby who found comfort in her mother, the contagious laughter of a toddler, the third snooze of your work alarm. These cascades of details can sometimes be put in the category of the ordinary, boring, the mundane, tedious, the humdrum, expected parts of life.
It is so easy to turn off our heart and just do our duty, what is expected and nothing more, especially when we feel that there is no guarantee of a return or payback. We cannot put love in this category of life. To live in love and to love others is an action word that calls and beckons us to move and do, but lets not forget to bring our hearts along for the journey.
As human beings, we tend to do a lot more "doing" than "being" with others. We are NOT all there. We forgot to be all present with our loved ones, acquaintances, co-workers, strangers that pass us by because we are so busy doing.
We miss out on the beauty of our own journey
because we are so busy looking, pondering, comparing, staring, analyzing others. The analysis of this other person typically goes two ways: sabotage them with pride or praise them with insecurity. Either way, both perspectives are not healthy.
I truly believe that we miss out so much on others when we choose to live like a solo jet pilot trying to get to our destination with no community. There isn't an extra eye to help navigate you if you are going astray. There is no one to soak in the iridescent sunsets or weather through your toughest storms. You are alone.
We aren't called to fly the plane of our lives alone.
If you are finding yourself turning on auto-pilot when life feels like it lost its luster, you find yourself mindlessly doing and not being the human-"being" that you are, turn off the auto-pilot and reach for community. Lets give a chance for our hearts to catch up with where our bodies are on this planet, in this day and age and culture. Let's be more present, more here, so we can selflessly journey with others - sharing each other's sunsets and storms.