Seeing the Colours

I've had a ton of work on my plate over the past week or so. Nothing to complain about, just the situation I'm in. During that time, and some before it there were two things I noticed... three really, that I did not make time fore. The first was God. Looking at my little journal and seeing vast amounts of time between my last entry on Daniel (a book that should take me 10 days at most - stretching into a month) was pretty poignant. The second thing of course would be my wife. Annexing her to dinner and whatever other few moments of my day was not a good way to cultivate a good marriage relationship. And finally, I did not take the time to look around and see the colours.

When I say this, I'm not merely talking about the colour of leaves and what not that are changing here in the area. In many ways, its a metaphor for what's going on in every facet of life around me. People are changing, doing things, and I'm not taking the time to truly be present there. I need to do this.

Usually, when I get busy and stressed, I get a couple reactions. I don't necessarily get angry or short with people (although Bridgette may attest otherwise) but I do kinda collapse in on myself. The other thing that happens is I get tired a lot. But the more I reach out, the more I take time to look at people and things around me, the more I am energized and the more unselfish I become. I think the effects of stress become a real opportunity to participate in real sin - complete selfishness.

It kinda reminds me of C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. In it, Napoleon keeps building houses further and further away from people, continually isolating himself (in hell? the reader presumes). He's angry, obsessed, and continually more and more selfish. I don't want to be like that, so I'm going to take some time to stop and look at the colours...