March Madness…not just for basketball

I love how mobile I am with a laptop. I am writing this blog from Villie’s Sandwich Shop in Hattiesburg while I’m eating my lunch special on my lunch break from work. This newfound mobility is a great thing since I’ve been home less this month than I have in a while. March Madness has taken hold and I ain’t talking about basketball. With the warm weather comes Spring, The Dubya’s birthday, Mardi Gras parades, Lent, St. Patrick’s Day parades, Hubfest, all of which must be photographed and it seems like every woman I know is birthing babies these days. Two showers this month, 2 babies born in the last two weeks and I’ve been shopping the baby sections of Target, Toys-r-Us and WalMart for more than a little while. (Okay, first bite of lunch… Get the chicken parm next time you come to Villie’s…greatness!!)

Anyway, during all of this running, there are moments for me to take a deep breath and slow down a little if I choose to see them. If I don’t choose to see them, my body gives me a wake up call in the form of a migraine or some other type of pain. Last week it was my neck, this week it’s my back with a few migraines thrown in the for good measure.

Why do we run so fast that we ignore what we’re supposed to be doing? Why do I have to hurt to be reminded, over and over, to say NO to things now and then? I do not know the answers to these questions but I do know that I mostly only have one speed, wide open, and it usually takes a 2 x 4 to the head to get my attention. Lent. Advent. I think they’re both there for a reason. During a time when the world is saying, “GO!! RUN RUN RUN!! GET STARTED ON SOMETHING!! GET THE LIST DONE!! BUY THINGS!!”, Lent and Advent are here to say, “Stop. Be still. Know that I am God.”

Some people give things up for Lent, some people take up new devotions and meditations, some people don’t observe Lent at all but it seems to me to be a bonus if you decide to set aside the time to make this period special. In whatever way you decide to do it. I know of no one who was harmed by stopping and being still for a few minutes a day. No harm comes from taking a deep breath and being silent for a moment. We may even learn something about ourselves or the people around us by doing it. Where’s the harm in that?