Living Real

We woke that morning to news of earth shifting and waves rising and families screaming, and I gasp, gulp, choke lungfuls of air.  Once again the knowledge that all this could change in an instant slaps me across the face, wakes me up to what real life looks like.

I've seen it this week, in the days we've locked away the silent, darkened face of the television set and set our sights on something more.  I've seen blank faces replaced with bright eyed curiosity, imagination taking the place of passive entertainment.  We are not placed on this earth to be entertained. We are here to live and serve and love and learn.

I smile in wonder at how our days seem longer now, without the drone of the set sucking minutes and hours away in a flash.  I can't hide my glee at the chess pieces I am stumbling over, the halting reading of a 7 year old to his siblings, the projects and creations that are scattered all over this house.  There is more mess.  There is more quiet.  There is more joy and more play and more work.  There is more life.  And while I watch all this transforming those around me, I see it transforming me, too.  More singing.  More playing.  More laughing. More praying.

The secret to living real is to be fully alive - not just to skate along until bedtime, avoiding messes and lining littles up on the couch like zombies.

Today is a gift.  Today may be our last.  Breathe deep and live real.