Meridian Magazine:: Line Upon Line: Nature Up Close and Personal

So how can I give myself permission to take time out of a hectic schedule to really enjoy nature, and while I'm at it, really enjoy life?

Wisdom from a "Short-timer"

Last week I went over and played and sung hymns with Grant Reeve, an elderly brother in our ward whose wife, Ann, passed away not long ago. He loves to sing, and knows all four parts of all the hymns. Grant and Ann have lived in the ward almost as long as I have and for nearly two decades have been uplifting delightful examples to me. Ann was a great lover of flowers and provided a fresh bouquet from her garden for our enjoyment at church every summer Sunday for years. I was her visiting teacher part of the time, and loved her dearly. Grant, who is pushing 90, recently had a bad fall and cracked some vertebrae in his neck and has been in a neck brace 24/7. It has not healed as the doctor had hoped. If the injured disk slips the slightest bit one way he'd be paralyzed, the other he'd be dead. So the doctor is going to operate on Tuesday and put metal pins in to hold it–a dangerous operation. He could easily lose his voice, be paralyzed, or die. But he is in wonderful spirits. What an amazing man!

Grant calls himself a "short–timer." From that perspective I asked his advice on the dilemma I've been feeling lately of being pulled in so many different directions–so little time and so many things I feel I should do. What he said brought tears to my eyes.

"Do what is satisfying to you. Do what makes you happy. None of us get everything done we feel we ought to before we die. And that's all right. The Lord doesn't ask us, when we get up there, why we didn't get this and this done. He just looks into our eyes and sees who we've become. Ann didn't get her life story done, but her whole life story is written in her face. That's what the Lord wants to know, is who you've become. I have hundreds of unfinished projects, but that's all right. And I'd rather have the joy of sitting here and singing hymns than to work on any of them. I believe God wants us be happy while we are here, not feel buried and overwhelmed with too much to do."

Enjoying Life Up Close

I felt the Spirit so strongly, validating what Grant said. I knew I was hearing truth. Something deep inside me breathed a deep sigh of relief. I can let go of the idea that there is a certain amount that absolutely has to get done before I die and enjoy life more!

I'm doing that–and having a great time. As I left Reeve's that day I enjoyed Ann's lilies:

I went home and got out my water colors and practiced painting trees–just for the fun of it and because I love trees! I had a wonderful time with my grandchildren during the 24th of July holiday–watching the wonder on their faces at the magic of brightly–lit sparklers, enjoying the cousins enjoying fireworks their dads were setting off in the street.

And on another night, laying on the grass and watching fireworks with them at the park. Before the fireworks, while we were waiting for it to get dark, I pulled a blade of grass and looked at it closely–more closely than I ever have. I discovered that this tiny part of the lush lawn was not solid green at all–but variegated stripes. No matter what I look at closely in nature, I learn something and am amazed all over again at God's creative genius. Perhaps more importantly, I looked at my grandchildren more closely and thought about the marvel that they are who they are, so unique, so individual, so precious.

Surely God means for us to enjoy life, nature, and each other up close and personal. He doesn't want us to run through life rushing from one task to another, pressuring ourselves to work faster and do still more. Instead, I think he wants us to sip and savor life, right here, right now. I'll never say on my death bed "Oh, I wish I gotten one more project done," or "I wish I'd checked off more things from my checklist." But I may well say, "I wish I'd taken time to really notice life, up close and personal. I wish I'd really looked at my loved ones and spent more time with them. I wish I'd really noticed the beauty around me, really enjoyed life while I had it."

I'm going to start doing better today enjoying life up close and personal.

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Notes

1 Virginia Pearce, A Heart Like His, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2006, 18, 38, 39.