There is a new business on our main street. Or maybe not so new. Apparently, it has been there for a while, but I had never seen it before. I drive that road just about every day and it has taken me months to notice. In my haste to get my errands run and to get on with the next thing on my list I allow myself to move through life in a blur, never taking the time to really see what is right before me. The clarity of now is lost in a blur of motion as I focus on what is to come, and the next thing I know, days have passed and I can’t recall what I have experienced.

This was brought home to me again this last week. I have been asked to speak on Easter Sunday and as I spent the week pondering on the topic I am to speak about I have found that inspirations and lessons abound in the everyday occurrences around me. Time and time again, I have had a conversation or read a snippet of something that has spurred my thoughts to new ways of thinking. The experience is probably familiar to you. This time it made me consider all of the time that I don’t notice the lessons around me, the time I spend barreling through my day, passing by the gems of beauty and wisdom that are always there, waiting for me to notice them.

“Take time to smell the roses,” they say, and suddenly I understand. It is about clarity. All of our rushing dulls our senses and life zooms by in a blur until something causes us to stop and look around us, to notice what is really going on, to realize that life is full and rich and abundant if we just take a moment to live in the here and now.

My pondering has made me stop and notice. The experience has been rich. My heart and mind have been open to lessons I didn’t even know I needed to learn. I have been more sensitive to the world around me, more in tune with my experiences. And life is full, it is rich and very abundant.

When was the last time you stopped to notice how the air feels on your skin, or taken a moment to really enjoy the warmth of the sun on a crisp, spring day? Or spent the time it takes to really ponder a thought or sentence you’ve just read. Life is busy. It goes by fast and there is so much to do. Yet, life is a precious gift. We must be careful not to loose its wealth in our rush to accomplish the next thing on our list. Clarity comes in moments of stillness. That is where we will find our riches.