Apple Pie and a Full Schedule

This year, my husband and I have received nature's bounty in our yard - a Gravenstein apple tree over-flowing with beautiful apples. Last year - none; this year - more than we can even give away! I'm told that the apple pies I've been making are "the best pie I've ever tasted," by quite a few people. (Of course, that's what people always say about apple pie!).

Apple pie also signals the end of summer and the beginning of fall. As I was thinking about an image for how busy our lives are these days - and how much busier they get when September arrives, an apple pie cut into too many pieces came to mind.
I've just got apple pies on my mind, so I'll go with it...

An apple pie cut into two many pieces falls apart easily. When an apple pie is cut into too many pieces, no one piece is really big enough to enjoy. A small piece of apple pie simply doesn't last long enough. When an apple pie is cut into too many pieces, it really doesn't satisfy. And when an apple pie doesn't satisfy, we're left longing for more, more more!

The way of life most of us live in the 21st century is a lot like that apple pie. We know we could be enjoying it, but we simply don't have enough to enjoy. Not "enough" things to enjoy, but time. Sometimes so many things are going on at once that we simply don't have the time to enjoy the little piece of life we seem to have left. We begin to feel as if that piece of pie is falling apart. Where did that pie go? Where does the time go?

I know that I like to savor a piece of apple pie. That way, when I take the time to savor it, I can really enjoy it. I like to enjoy every single bite, and I like to be able to take the time to savor every single bite. I like to be able to taste the raisins and the cinnamon and nutmeg I bake along with the apples. I've learned that I can't do that if I'm rushing, or if I'm unhappy about the small piece I've been given.

Our busy lives put us into the same kind of bind. Everything looks interesting, and we know it's all good, but we just don't have enough of each piece to enjoy. When we look at our calendars - our iPhones, that is - they're already filled. No time shows up that says: "time to enjoy my life." We sigh. We know we could be watching our children grow, taking the time to talk to them, and to listen. We know that we would really enjoy some time with good friends. We could even take a day to sit and do nothing. That way, we could savor our lives! But when our calendar is filled with important meetings and dates and activities and work, when we know that the tank in the car is almost empty and we don't even have the time it takes to get it filled, and when we know that not only our own schedule but everyone else's needs to be attended to, the moments we need to sit and do nothing, to get back in touch with ourselves, will never happen. They won't.

Add September to the mix. Life is running out there ahead of us. That little piece of apple pie we had hoped to enjoy is handed over the person next to us, right before our eyes!

If one person asks me for one more thing!!!

As far as we know, this is the only life we have. The apple pie that's being passed to the other person next to you just might be the last piece of apple pie you get! The truth is, if we don't stop to simply sit and do nothing, life is passing us by, whether we want it to or like it to, or not. And if we don't stop to do nothing sometimes, if we don't stop to enjoy what our life is, then we'll surely become ill, or get angry at everyone we meet during the day, and we'll have to continue to say no to the things that really matter in our lives. Like the raisins, the cinnamon, the nutmeg... And that is a tragedy. That's a tragedy that we all take for the reality of modern life. In the tragedy we take for life, people and values and feelings and community no longer matter.

So often we say, "yes" to everything - in fact, we get affirmed for saying "yes" to everything -and in doing so, we say, "no" to the things that really matter.

Say yes to the things that matter, instead. Say yes to your good life and people and values and feelings and community!
Warmly,
meb