A Walk In The Park

I have always believed that some of life's greatest lessons are found outside the places we expect to find them.

I usually get my lessons in a park.

I guess I love to people watch. Going for a walk or sitting on a park bench, we begin to notice details that would have gone unseen if we had hurried past them. A child running around. People walking by. A tree standing quietly after decades of changing seasons.

Nothing in the park is trying to rush. Even the runners have purpose and intention.

The trees are not competing with one another. Everything grows according to the time it has been given.

We often compare our lives to someone else's timeline. We become impatient because we believe we should be further along than we are today.

Nature doesn't seem concerned with any of those things.

A young tree doesn't question why it isn't as tall as the one beside it. It simply continues growing.

Growth rarely announces itself. The roots deepen before the branches stretch toward the sky. Day after day, small changes take place beneath the surface until one day we look back and realize how much has changed.

Our lives follow a similar pattern.

We don't always recognize growth while it is happening. We see it months later in the way we respond to disappointment. We recognize it in the peace we have found during circumstances that once would have overwhelmed us.

Walking through the park reminds me that life was never meant to be lived at full speed every moment of the day.

The next time you find yourself walking through a park, leave your headphones behind for a while.

Meditate.

Watch the way sunlight finds its way through the branches.

Notice the people around you.

Appreciate the blessings in your life.