Today is Labor Day in the U.S.  Today I hope you you can rest your “laboring” and linger awhile seeing this moment, this day, as a gift.  A few days ago, we had a family emergency.  No one wants to get a phone call late at night like this.  That moment I found myself even more convinced that we are tender, tender souls, life is so precious and short, we focus a lot of energy on the stuff that doesn’t matter, and I want to spend the rest of my life treating others with tenderness — today, in this moment.  Let’s rest the “laboring” we do of focusing on the unnecessary, of spending our energy holding back instead of letting go and embracing, of reacting out of fear instead of responding from a place of love and regard.

Today

Today I will
linger here awhile
knowing the holy is right here.
Kissing my son’s forehead
gently tucking my daughter’s wispy hair behind her ear
hugging my beloved a little longer.

Today I will linger here
knowing we are certain of only one thing: this moment.
This moment I can still hold my dad’s aging hand
this moment I can still hear my mom’s kind words to me
this moment I can still sit on their porch
and hear the sounds of a summer evening.

Today I will linger here
knowing this one precious life is a gift.
Feeling the warm bath water against my skin
watching the sun slowly rising
tasting my breakfast
hearing the sound of two children waking
little feet walking against the carpet
two little growing bodies wrapped in my arms.

Holy
precious
fleeting

A gift.

Lisa McCrohan

** Friends, thank you for all your lovely comments — here, on Facebook, and in emails. It’s a delight to know that something here resonates with you and inspires you. I write from a movement within me, a calling, to inspire this world to live with more delight, compassion, and connection in our everyday lives – however that may look for each of us.