Hungry Hippos

I love this time of year - springtime!  It reminds me of a fresh, new start.  After a long cold winter, I hear the birds chirping and see the green grass growing again.  The world seems so full of life; so full of hope.  The snow storms and icy, frigid weather were here, but now we can bathe in the sunshine.  And isn't that the promise of Easter?  Hope.  Yes, there may be suffering and death in this world, but Jesus shows us hope.  We are loved by an amazing God who gives us the promise of new life.  He loves us so much; much more than we can even imagine.  And He wants us to be happy.  He has given this life to us as a precious gift.  He wants us to live, to love, to laugh.

It amazes me how fast time goes.  We all feel it in our lives; especially if we have children.  One moment, they are sleeping peacefully in our arms, clenching our finger for dear life.  And the next, they are begging us to chase them all over the house.  We all say to each other, "it goes so fast" and "where did the time go?"  So we must cherish every moment.  We must live and love and laugh and not waste any time.  But how?  This world is so demanding; we have jobs, bills, taxes, activities, and so many distractions. 

I think the challenge is to cherish the moments.  There are millions of moments that pass througout our day.  Can we just stop occasionally and cherish them?  Can we take a moment to call our husband or wife and say, "You are so precious to me"?  Or take 2 minutes to play 'Hungry Hippos' even though we haven't made lunch yet and are a hungry hippo ourself?!?  Or take 1 minute to write a sentence on a card and send it to a loved one?  Or stop by a nursing home on our way home from work to sit 5 minutes with a lonely stranger?  Or open up the Bible and read for 3 minutes before we turn out the lights?  It is these small moments that will change our lives and help us to live life to the fullest.

The truth is, we don't need to wait for Easter or spring for a fresh, new start.  Every single day is a new start.  Actually, every moment is a fresh start.  We can decide an any moment in our lives to start again; to change our attitude and choose to be better.  This is the message of "Live," the first song on my album.

Do you have any ideas of how to cherish the moments?  If so, please share them as a comment to this blog so we can all learn from each other and start living each day to the fullest.

And in the meantime..."cherish every moment you are given..."