Smell the Roses

Once again, sitting in my favorite seat, cruising at above 35,000 feet, I'm thinking. This time, about a film I saw recently called, "Paris Can Wait." First of all, I love movies located in beautiful, familiar and unfamiliar places as they seem to, in some small way, temporarily assuage my constant state of wanderlust. I could be on a trip, walking through an airport and after using the flight information board to find my next gate, I stand there for awhile looking at all of the possible destinations available, and fantasize . . . I'm hopeless in that regard.

Okay, back to the movie. I sat there at the end of it thinking that some people would swear that for almost two hours, nothing happened. A French man and his partner's American wife were driving from Cannes to Paris, and she, focused solely on the destination, was disturbed as he constantly insisted that they stop every hour to have a drink, a bite, or a stroll.

The woman, played by Diane Lane, married to a far to busy to stop and smell the roses business man (Alec Baldwin), had not, until this adventure, realized that, although she was experiencing a quite opulent lifestyle, she had not really been living. Her everyday was planned out and filled with mundane errands, with very little time between each. Needless to say, the kind of 'be present to the moment' spontaneity the Frenchman was insisting on was at first disconcerting and at last so desirable, that she was to have a hard time returning to how she had been living.

Now on to what this brought up for me. I have spent my whole life spontaneously following my heart. As a result, I have seen, done and felt the extraordinary. And, I feel a smile on my face or in my heart constantly. On the contrary, when spending time, people watching in airports, while walking familiar and unfamiliar streets, and when pulling up alongside another car and observing the faces and body language of the drivers, it occurs to me that the, all too often, glum facial expressions and slumped shoulders are the result of unstimulating living.

Circles Of Light is a traveling ministry. We make it our business to see the sights, taste the food, sample the wares and interact with peoples all over the world. Yes, we take pictures, but not for the purpose of saying we were there. Our pictures turn into videos of outrageous experiences that are witnessed to by smiles and hugs and songs. God created all of the amazing differences in sights and sounds and tastes and smells, and then created us to experience as many of them as possible..

I think the sadness of face and body that I mentioned earlier are the result of going through life focused solely on a destination called survival. And, without understanding that not fully experiencing the journey is debilitating. We were created to experience creation, and spending our allotted time solely making the money to provide food, shelter and some degree of comfort is detrimental to the body, mind and spirit. And the result, in far too many cases, is life-threatening disease. After all, an adventure abased on sickness is better than no adventure at all.

I believe it is very possible not to know just how amazing God is If you don't take the time to notice. Everyday, I thank God for creating it all, and I thank myself for making the time and creating the opportunity to experience it all. And, I'm thrilled that you have the desire and the courage it takes to journey with me.