Simple Pleasures

In our modern world of lightening communication, high definition video, and immediate gratification we have become accustomed to a host of stimuli which were unknown only a couple of decades ago. Now we tend to build up a resistance to entertainment, requiring ever-increasing does of it to satisfy us. Such pleasures increasingly fall prey to the law of diminishing returns. But when we step back and survey the true pleasures in life they still turn out to be the simple ones. While we may be temporarily wowed by our own creations, in the end most of us respond best to those things which we did not create. It’s been my good fortune to spend some extended time out of doors in recent weeks, which has enabled me to rediscover my own response to beauty and nature. During that time my life has also been very relational, reminding me how much I enjoy the company of others. I have, in short, reconnected with the simple pleasures in my life, the responsive joy which I believe is inherently a part of our identity. There’s just no telling what you may discover if you can just turn off the television, disconnect the computer, power down the cell phone, and simply get outdoors. Whether your backdrop is the ocean, the mountains, the desert, the plains, or even the tiny park at the end of the street, something special awaits you there. You don’t need a grand adventure with a bunch of equipment. You don’t need to take a week’s vacation. You just need to step outside without an agenda. Watch the sunset, smell some flowers, take a walk on the beach, or just observe a tree swaying in the breeze. And if you can share the experience with some like-minded person then all the better. The point is to break the monotony, turn off the electronics, and live a little differently … even if it’s only for a short time.

We often grow so accustomed to being entertained that we lose track of just being. So take a weekend, a day, an hour, a moment. Take some time to live, and look for some of the simple pleasures in life, I guarantee that you won’t be disappointed.

Simple Pleasures
When I survey my daily life
I find the simplest of things
Are what matter to me most of all
And the greatest pleasure bring
The morning sun upon my face
The song of birds nearby
The trees which dance upon the breeze
Every moment, a small surprise
The countless blessings on my path
Which greet me all the while
The quiet feeling deep within
That wells into a smile
Life is dotted with experience
And there are moments grand and fine
But the simple things that touch my heart
Bring a sense of the divine
                  By Frank Carpenter ©

Perfect Moments

Below I recount an inspiring moment from my own recent personal life. I’m quite fond of the specific memory and the beauty that my “word painting” recalls. Upon reflection, however, there is also much to extrapolate from that experience and how it might apply to the other parts of our lives. As an example, even on that particular day I alone paused to observe the scene and fully immerse myself in it. The rest of my companions hiked on, perhaps missing many of the details of that little valley, along with the emotions they evoked. This perfect moment had an impact on me that I’m writing about a year later. The same often proves true in the other areas of our lives. We tend to rush past so much that life has to offer instead of pausing to actually be anywhere. I recently read a book entitled “Chasing Daylight” by Eugene O’Kelly. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer and spent his final months trying to live in the moment, while attempting to create “perfect moments” of closure with his friends and loved ones. It’s merely coincidental that my poem shares a title with this concept, which I read about a year later … if you believe in coincidence. Yet, the main idea comes shining through.

Anyway, the point I’m getting at is that we don’t have to be dying, or off in the mountains, in order to seek out and enjoy the perfect moments in our lives. They are all around us, but we have to slow down long enough to recognize and enjoy them. And that’s what we really want out of life, isn’t it? We long for perfect moments with our friends and spouses and children. We relish perfect moments in nature, in church, and even in our own living rooms. That’s the quality of life that means so much more than the quantity. When you return from vacation and people ask about it, you don’t tell them how many miles you drove or how many restaurants or hotel rooms you visited. No, you recount the highlights, the moments that made all those miles worth driving. Yet, in so many areas of our lives we measure their value by the odometer. In the end, though, how far rarely ends up being as important as how well.

And I leave you with that thought. Where do you need to pause in your own life to create perfect moments that you’ll remember a year from now … or ten years? You certainly don’t have to travel to the mountains. It might be as simple as pulling your car over to watch the sunset or pausing to look at the dew on a spider web. It might be playing catch or kicking a ball with the kids. It might be holding hands while you watch TV instead of sitting in separate chairs. Look for the perfect moments and grab onto them with both hands. If you do, I can definitely promise that you will never regret it.

Perfect Moments
The cool breeze which greets me
From the patch of nearby snow
Brings a kiss of fading winter
I’d forgotten long ago
Yet its final frozen vestiges
Still cling beneath the trees
By a pristine lake we hiked to
Where I paused to take my ease
Though it’s summer in the Wasatch
And June has nearly flown
The snowfields of this valley
Still seem to hold their own
The best of winter, spring and summer
Have converged here for a time
And the beauty each contributes
Brings a sense of the sublime
To this perfect day and moment
I have the privilege to know
So I thank God for quiet valleys
Lakes and stubborn fields of snow
By Frank Carpenter ©