Recently, while rushing back from walking my dogs – so I could shower quickly, eat breakfast, race through my devotions, and tackle the days emails, articles, posts and projects sitting before me — I heard a quiet voice that told me to slow down.

Being a Type A personality, I have always struggled with slowing down. I innately like the fast lane. Unfortunately, my life has changed so that my body no longer likes the fast lane. Despite that realization, I still struggled with slowing down.

That is until a few days ago.

I realize that I have special “moments” and once those moments are gone, I can’t get them back. If I rush through them I find myself full of regret for not having savored them. I also realize that I miss all the blessings that God puts in front of me every day because I am looking elsewhere.

These days I take my walks without a watch so that time won’t encroach on my quiet moments. I like to sit by a river with my Pugs and take in the warm sun on my face, listen to the birds singing their morning ballads, and watch the squirrels scurry for their next snack.

As I sit taking in all the wonderful sights and sounds of nature, I began to notice a change in my body. The usual stress that was there had ebbed away leaving me feeling relaxed and amazingly, refreshed.

It was then that I realized that every moment I savor is a memory made. In rushing from one task to the next, I had not only missed the moments but I lost the memory I might have created by savoring those special times in my life. Suddenly, I understood that it is these particular moments that God gives me to carry me through the day to the next.

These days, it is easy to rush past the many moments God wants to reveal to us.

We must make a concerted effort to stop and savor the time that He has given us so that we will have memories to carry us forward. I encourage you savor your moments. If you are with your child, savor those moments. If you are working, savor those as well. If you are with loved ones, savor the time you spend with them.

I find it amazing when we change our perspective from getting things accomplished to savoring each and every moment — how much more enjoyable the days become. So, when you start your day today, remember: a Moment Savored is a Memory Made.

Author Information

Dominique Small is a writer who tells her story about battling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/CFIDS) and Fibromyalgia (FMS) from a Christian perspective. Residing in Oklahoma with her two pugs, Dominique chronicles her experiences through her regularly updated weblog 4 Walls and A View.

Photo Credit: Alfred Borchard

Popularity: 14% [?]

Starting on Monday, November 16th, National Collection Week for the 2009 Operation Christmas Child shoe box campaign gets underway. Lots of people will be packing boxes this year, so much so that Samaritan’s Purse hopes that more than 8 million children will be reached around the world.

EZ Give

One new feature that may be of interest to contributors is that if you make an online donation to cover the cost of shipping your shoe box, then you can also get the tracking code to learn where your gift is going. Samaritan’s Purse asks donors to contribute $7 per packed box to help defray shipping costs and if you make that donation online you can print out a tracking label to be taped to your shoe box.

That label features what is called an EZ Give barcode which connects to your email address. You will receive an e-mail telling you the destination of your gift, along with information about Operation Christmas Child in that country. If your boxes go to more than one country, you will receive more than one e-mail.

A pretty nifty idea, right? I think so. We already had our labels affixed to the four shoe boxes we pack when I discovered this feature, but it was an easy thing to make payment online and print out new labels to replace the ones we had already selected. This was important for us because when a gift is sent overseas, we’d like for our children to understand a bit more about the conditions in that country.

Email Follow-up

Though our children may not know specifically who received their gift, we can then follow up that email to talk about what these children experience in their every day lives. Importantly, we can pray for them.

I’ve added a video of a shoe box campaign in the Republic of Georgia where children caught in the crossfire of a regional war were helped. For many children, the shoe box gift is their only gift at Christmas, perhaps the brightest gift they’ve receive all year.

Popularity: 41% [?]