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“Living a life fully engaged and full of whimsy and the kind of things that love does is something most people plan to do, but along the way they just kind of forget.” ~ Bob Goff
There is something magical that happens each summer. I wonder if you feel it too?
Like a flower opening its eye to the golden sunshine for the first time, something awakens in my heart this time of year. A longing that feels as though it were set there before the beginning of time. Unsatiated through the bitter chill of winter. Reborn at the hope of spring. Blooming into an audacious desire in the technicolor days of late June.
There is a shifting that takes place, as if the air is pregnant with expectation. As if the veil between reality and fairy tale is just about to rip open to reveal mysteries long dormant. Suddenly anything seems possible. Time is transcendent, and the world is again washed anew with purpose. It’s almost as if I’ve been in a long sleep, and now suddenly awakened by nature’s kiss I am keenly aware and blissfully alive.
But the truth is, if I’m not careful I’ll miss it…
The magic. The joy. All of it. It’s easy to get lost in the busyness of the season, to quickly repress that first moment of fond anticipation.
Summer means lots of activity in the garden, kid’s baseball games, birthday parties and yard clean up. The season starts with enthusiasm, but it can quickly get washed away in exhaustion as we try to manage all the things we have on our list to do. And I end up coming to the end of summer only to look back with disappointment because I spent all my time and energy just trying to get things done.
“You must not ever stop being whimsical.” ~ Mary Oliver
This year I am intentionally making time for whimsy.
We all need whimsy in our lives because life is hard, and without childlike joy the discouragement we face every day will beat us down.
I am choosing whimsy this summer because life is too short to spend chasing after meaningless things. I choose joy. I choose evenings spent catching lightning bugs and roasting marshmallows with the kids. I choose picking flowers in the garden hand in hand with my daughter and watching the sun melt across the western horizon as many nights as I possibly can.
There is more to life than simply getting things done, so I’m letting that go. The need. The guilt. Maybe a little of the overzealous drive. The focus on the wrong things. I want to live with purpose and hold on to the hopefulness that is so potent in those first few summer days. And I want that to be a good example for how my children should embrace their lives as well.
Am I being dramatic? A kind of hopeless romantic? I hope so. Because that is the way of whimsy, isn’t it? To look at the world around us with a bit of flare and to invest deeply into the people and moments available to us right now, right here.
Will you join me?
very interesting post. Not many traditional family content out there.