Difficult
times help us understand better than before, how infinitely rich and
beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that we worry
about are of no importance whatsoever... What is more important is to
appreciate and enjoy things around us, big or small.
Here's
an isnpiring story (derived from a forwarded email) narrated by Lisa
Beamer on Good Morninng America. Lisa is the wife of Todd Beamer who
said “Let’s Roll” and helped take down the plane over Pennsylvania that
was heading for Washington, DC back on 9/11/2001. She said that
it's the little things that she misses most about Todd, such as hearing
the garage door open as he came home, and her children running to meet
him.
Lisa recalled the following inspiring story when she was
in high school:
"I had a very special teacher in high school many years
ago whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack. About a week after
his death, she shared some of her insight with a classroom of students.
As the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom
windows and the class was nearly over, she moved a few things aside on
the edge of her desk and sat down there.
With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused
and said, ' Class is over, I would like to share with all of you, a
thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important.
Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and
give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will
end. It can be taken away at any moment.
Perhaps this is the power's way of telling us that we
must make the most out of every single day. Her eyes, beginning to
water, she went on, 'So I would like you all to make me a promise. From
now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something
beautiful to notice.
It doesn't have to be something you see, it could be a
scent, perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone's house,
or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in
the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf as it
falls gently to the ground. Please look for these things, and cherish
them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the
"stuff" of life. The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy.
The things we often take for granted.
The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our
books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed
more things on my way home from school than I had that whole semester.
Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an
impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those
things that sometimes we all overlook.
Take notice of something special you see on your lunch
our today. Go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the
way home tonight to get a double dip ice cream cone. For as we get
older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things
we didn't do.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away."
The best
things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in
your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path
of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do
life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties
and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. ~Robert Louis
Stevenson~ |