Where I come from, the seasons are short.
Winter comes and goes with only a couple of snow falls to account for.
Spring rushes in with rain and humidity.
The humidity brings summer alongside it.
Fall arrives and disappears faster than the leaves do from the trees.
But maybe that’s where we all come from - places where the seasons seem short.
We are often in a complex. We want what we do not have, and we want to be where we are not. We long for a world that isn’t our present, and we get caught up missing where we are for where we wish.
This weekend I took my favorite scenic drive in SE Oklahoma. That’s where the leaves change most dramatically in our state. On the drive, I found myself wishing I had gone earlier in the year to see more trees. But then also wishing I had gone later in the year because maybe it would have been colder and cloudier, more dramatic.
The entire time I was wishing, I was missing where I was and the beauty that was around me. I let regret take hold instead of letting the peacefulness of the place I was in have its time of rest in my soul.
I missed out, and I took a note for next time: to embrace the world as it is around me.
-Cliff
Cliff’s Note: Feel the breeze on your face; smell the scent of the trees; taste the coffee; see the beauty. Breathe deeply.