Linger in the twilight. Autumn beckons us to cling to its beauty. Let’s not hurry it along. Here’s a tool to use in gaining a moment in our frenetic lives: Take the advice of the washing machine — push pause before spin. Pushing pause resets our computer. Pushing pause reminds us that there’s more to life than the next task.
This season, we focus upon “The Good Life.” What comes to mind when you read that phrase? It’s often equated with luxury, leisure, idleness. But the good life is so much more than the absence of work, and more than the accumulation of expensive stuff. If it were just wealth, how happy some would be. If it were simply leisure, the lazy would rejoice. If the good life came from knowledge or health or status, more of us would experience it. The good life thrives from an attitude we bring to the small moments of daily life. It grows when we have an appetite for creating peace in others by first creating peace in ourselves.
And like so much of our world, the good life surrounds us. It flourishes in neighborhoods where people care for one another. It grows in retail shops brimming with good cheer and in restaurants where patrons connect over some fine food.
It smells like that first blast of clear, crisp football weather air. It’s the spicy taste of a mug of mulled cider, the cozy feel of new fuzzy slippers, the gentle cord strengthened during a family trek through autumn leaves, and of course, that annual bonding at Thanksgiving. Good life ingredients all.
The good life is that bedrock of hope that reminds us how precious all of life really is. Let us know what makes the good life in your world. May all of your life be good.
