Busy-ness

Today, I went to the funeral of an old friend...a friend with whom I've been out of touch with for awhile because of pure and simple busy-ness. I thought of her so often...wrote her an occasional note and went past her home many times, thinking, "I really need to stop and see Sharon." Except she didn't like people to just stop in because she was embarrassed about the inside of her home. She spent 24/7 taking care of her daughter who had severe Downs syndrome and it left her little time to take care of the house. Outside, though, every flower imaginable grew in her garden - to pass her home was like passing a rainbow. It's beautiful - just like Sharon. The flowers added to today's post is a remembrance of her love for all things beautiful.

For Christmas, Scott gave me a Purpose Driven Life calendar - so that I can count down the days to my retirement. Often, I find myself trying to catch up to this calendar's words of advice for a week at a time because I don't always read them.

On Tuesday, I went past Sharon's house on the way home from work. I had the car that day and needed to stop at the craft store so that I could finish up a Teddy Bear poster I am making for my friend's daughter. Her house was dark, but I made up my mind that I would call her this weekend. Instead, as we were eating dinner on Thursday night, Ron told me that a friend from church had called earlier in the day and said that Sharon had died. I can't describe how I felt.

As I cleaned my desk here at home this afternoon, sorting through this and that, I realized that I hadn't read or torn the pages off my calendar in awhile.

This is what it says on the page I look at now...ironically from Tuesday, the day I had driven past Sharon's house.

It says, 'Busyness is a great enemy of relationships. We become preoccupied with making a living, doing our work, paying bills and accomplishing goals as if these tasks are the point of life. They are not. The point of life is learning to love-God and people. Life minus love equals zero.'

In church this morning, singing the hymns Sharon's family had chosen for her service, I realized -even before I read them - the meaning of Tuesday's words of wisdom on my calendar. I didn't need to read them to know that the enemy of busyness has stolen a great deal.

I have a lot of catching up to do - so that nothing else is lost.

Blessings,

Sue