Last week I was in Lisbon.
We walked up the old cobblestone streets and marvelled at the view over this old and colorful city. We enjoyed good food and great company. We explored a bit more of Lisbon’s rich history.
One day we spent at a monastery and its church.
As I was sitting in a bench enjoying the quiet peaceful atmosphere I noticed a girl. She walked through the room quite fast, her view fixed forward.
In her hand she held a phone which she pointed at the statues and the decor around her. The red ‘record’ button shone brightly in the dimly light nave.
She was there, in this beautiful old building, but yet she wasn’t.
She looked at architecture and painted windows, and yet she didn’t.
She rushed by as if everything was the same.
Instead of taking in the details, instead of collecting impressions she collected a quick recording, a mere snapshot on a phone which will never, ever match reality.
As I saw this girl racing by with her phone on record and no time to take in the real beauty in front of her, I had to think.
Don’t we sometimes have the same attitude?
We visit a new city and try to document as much as possible.
Every meal, every moment of happiness must be instagrammed before we might enjoy it.
We meet up with friends for coffee, but often we’re both on a run, so fellowship better happen fast.
We gather for church on Sundays, but the service can’t take more than two hours because everyone wants to get home for lunch on time.
We are here, in this life, and yet we are not. We rush by as if everything was the same.
Let’s break out of this ‘same’ box.
Let’s step down from the treadmill this life often has us on and actually…live.
Let’s not put an end to a coffee date, just enjoy the time you have. Focus on the details, discover that your friend will never be the same like someone else.
Let’s travel and not be rushed. Cross off a few sights on your list and rather watch a city’s people. Learn a building’s history and take in the beauty which is often hidden in small things. Decide to not take pictures with your camera, but with your heart.
Let’s enjoy Sundays again and experience what happens when we truly wait for the Lord.
Let’s be here.
Let’s collect moments, not things.
thisiskatha.com 
Good to hear from you, my dear! Enjoy your travels! Out of own interest I might ask you to collect more than memories, otherwise I can't look at your pictures…:) Lasst es euch gutgehn!
Thank you, Tara!
Thank you for your comment, Andrew! I really appreciate your perspective, even though it's such a tough situation…I wish you an eternal perspective and the view of little blessings each and every day!
Best thing for me to hear right now! Love from Vancouver
So much THIS: “We are here, in this life, and yet we are not. We rush by as if everything was the same.” I'm parked in the 9 spot this week.
Well-said. I remember a television advert, several years ago, showing a family walking through a museum…each interacting not with the exhibits, but with their cell phones…and it deemed this a 'good thing'.
One way to arrest this in one's life is to develop a terminal illness. Now my moments are precious, and I try to make each one last.
I honestly don';t know if I would trade this perspective against a return to full health. It was so hard-won…I do not know if I would trade.
Here from FMF, and oddly, I am #1.
http://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2015/09/your-dying-spouse-55-still-same-and-not.html