“Mom, can I go play in the rain?”
thunder rumbles
“Of course, I’ll be right here”
I adjust the cushions on the front porch and watch as he his t-shirt begins to soak through and stick to his body. I naturally lean into the moment for all of 5 seconds before I feel this relentless tug to pick up my phone, and so I do. I start scrolling and liking posts without even realizing I’m doing it. Then out of nowhere it was as if God reached into my heart and not so quietly said,
Amy, put your phone down.
My eyes looked up.
I clicked my phone off mid-scroll.
I noticed the details.
His clothes plastered to his body that, wait, how has he grown so fast?
His hair is slicked down his face and the toothy grin is larger than life. I see him running up and down the driveway chasing the sheets of rain, and if wasn’t paying attention I would have missed his awe-whispered words “this is the best thing EVER”
A hot summer afternoon broken by a thunderstorm.
A child-like innocence of wanting to run around in the rain without reservation.
The joy of a seemingly simple moment etched into that bank of core memories,
and I could have missed it.
I almost did.
I am so used to filling up my moments of “down time” with my phone that it came out of habit. I didn’t want to; heck I hardly had a second thought before I was scrolling through the lives of others without realizing I was checking out of the presentness of my own.
So here is another reminder.
Put your phone down, brick it, put it on the wall, do whatever you need to do, but do it.
Put it away.
Look up. Focus on the goodness that is right in front of you.
Be present.
We all know how fleeting time can be and how much we can’t get it back even when we wish we could.
go play in the rain.
