This past week our daughter Susan gave birth to our first granddaughter, Piper Ann. Sarah and I have now been blessed with three grandchildren. JW is 3, Rex is 9 months, and now we have Piper.
The entire week I have been thinking about the joy of being a grandparent. It has been said that if we knew being a grandparent was so much fun, we would have had the grandkids first.
It would be easy for me to postpone my joy. With all the things that I have going on right now, it would be easy to simply wait until “tomorrow” to enjoy the time with my grandkids. The problem with that is there might not be a tomorrow.
We should all make it a point to never postpone our joy. Take the time today to enjoy the moment, to cherish the experience.
Simon and Garfunkel had a song many years ago, that was subtitled “Feeling Groovy”. The lyrics of the song are appropriate. “Slow down, you move too fast. You’ve got to make the morning last”.
We as a community need to stop and think about that. Are we moving too fast? Are we rushing from event to event and not taking the time to truly embrace the joy of our lives? Here’s a couple of thoughts.
With today’s technology, there is no excuse for not staying connected with those that you love. You may not be physically collocated, but you can be virtually. Skype and FaceTime are amazing tools that allow you to stay connected. When Sarah and I were in Ireland recently, we stayed connected with our kids, and grandkids, via Skype. Too easy!
Make it a point to tell those folks that you love that you love them….today. Don’t postpone that until tomorrow because you are too busy. I think it is essential to live a life with no regrets. Remember, there are no guarantees for tomorrow.
I was told many years ago to “hug them like you mean it”. Too many times we give a cursory hug because we are too busy to truly pause and embrace those we care about. We are simply “going thru the motions”. Make it a point hold a hug for 3 seconds.
For those that you truly love, research has shown that a 20 second hug is very important for your health and well being. It releases Oxytocin, the “Happy Hormone”. That hug will not only be important to your relationship, but also to your health.
So let’s promise ourselves, our Family, and our community that we will never postpone our joy. We’ll be glad we did.