Just Live Friday, August 23, 2024

What does that look like? If we were 4 years-old (and, believe it or not, we once were!) it would look like any other day, because we didn't have a past and we didn't give a second’s thought to the future. All we knew and all we (rightly) cared about was what or who happened to be in front of us in any given moment – and making the most of it. We were fully present.

But something happened on the road to adulthood. Somewhere along the way, we picked up a hitchhiker known only as The Past – a surly character filled with missteps, guilt, regret, misplaced anger, shame, loss, hurt, brokenness, disillusionment, and ​disappointment - who refused (and still refuses) to get out of our car, so we cart him around with us. And, we worry about the future – A LOT.

For us then, it looks like the emotional equivalent of a tax holiday. A day we don't have to add on. A moment of grace. A conscious EXHALE, where we give ourselves permission to let go of it all – the past, the future, the often soul-splintering weight of both – and just live today, just love today, just spend a day being FULLY PRESENT to whatever or whoever happens to be right in front of us.

What does "just living Friday, August 23, 2024," look like? It looks like allowing ourselves to be 4 years-old again for a day. Trust me, while you may have forgotten what that looks and feels like, your heart hasn’t.