Monday morning thoughts

It is 6:45a and I am sitting in the still quiet of my office waiting for another busy work day (and week) to begin and as I reflect on the weekend just past, I realize AGAIN how blessed I am to have family, friends and loved ones to spend time with and continually make new memories. As a rule, I only make one resolution at the beginning of the year and this year, I don't remember EXACTLY how I phrased my resolution (it's always something deep and profound and evidently forgettable), but it had something to do with embracing the memories. Too often in the hustle and bustle and busy-ness of life, we forget to celebrate the small moments - the conversations with lifetime friends, the phone calls in the middle of the night, the celebrations of events in our lives. And because we don't take time to memorialize them (in pictures or words or thank yous), in time, the memories fade and blur and are forgotten.

This weekend, every day had something worth holding onto for the memory banks: from family worship with my aunt, uncle, cousins and mother on Friday evening; sitting in church with a dear friend on Sabbath morning and enjoying a spirit filled message that made me think about the type of Christian I truly am; hanging out with my "parental units" who were in town visiting from Houston on Saturday evening; spending time with my 88 year old grandmother for our weekly phone conversation; having brunch on Sunday morning with my brother and mother; talking to my other brother on a coast-to-coast telephone call on Sunday morning; my cousin Dominique's baby shower on Sunday that was full of laughter, food, fellowship and well wishes for her and her growing family. All this stuff may seem minute, mundane, unimportant, and inconsequential. But when I am 70/80 years old, sitting in my rocking chair at the assisted living home, waiting for the next round of BINGO to start - these are the memories that will make me smile and laugh and maybe even cry, but that will be a good thing.

I pray that you will live your life in such a way that you too will cherish your memories. But to cherish them, you gotta make them. So get out there! Go to brunch with a childhood friend. Call up that person who has made an impact in your life. Tell your parents, your siblings, your friends you love them while you still have a chance. I promise you, you will be glad that you did.

Be blessed.