There are some things that can wait. Procrastination has its place…..most closets can wait to be cleaned out….laundry can sit for a few extra days in the hamper while a good book is read.  I learned a difficult lesson over the last weeks about those things that must be done in a timely way.

Last year as Christmas cards began to arrive, I opened a particularly fat envelope. I saw the return address and knew that it was from friends who live out east; friends,to be honest,  that I had not seen in several years. The envelope contained a lovely card with Season's Greetings. It also contained all the Christmas card photographs of our children that our family had sent until our lives got too busy to send cards anymore. I held in my hand a pictorial history of our sons early years….Christmas to Christmas. There they were, these beautiful, sweet young boys from infancy to early elementary school. My husband and I, wisely, were only present in a couple of the photos, leaving the true family 'stars' to shine.

I was on the one hand so touched by the fact that these had been saved and returned to us that I was speechless. On the other hand, tears springing into my eyes, I knew that they had been sent by someone who had been battling cancer for several years. What could this 'return' mean? How was I to appropriately respond? We weren't sending Christmas cards for yet another year and so there would be no quick note of thanks scribbled inside for the kindness of saving these treasures. After the holidays, I thought, when things slowed down, I would sit down and write a letter, catch up, ask how things were going, and thank our friend for collecting our family memories and holding them safely for us.

But life continued on and I never sat down to write that thank you. There were probably many reasons deeper than I allowed myself to recognize why I never reached out, why I procrastinated. And so, when a few days before Christmas we learned that our friend had lost her fight, I felt wretched, not only for the loss of this beautiful woman but for my frivolous lack of humanity in seeing her gift for what it was. In some small way she was offering a glimpse of the time….the precious time…that had passed, that was passing, that cannot be recaptured.

And so today, I remind myself that there are some acts that cannot wait. I pray for the wisdom to recognize them when they come into my life and for the good sense to drop whatever I am doing and pay attention to what is really important.

"I got out of bed on two strong legs.It might have been otherwise.I ate cereal, sweet milk, ripe, flawless peach. It might have been otherwise. I took the dog uphill to the birch wood. All morning I did the work I love. At noon I lay down with my mate. It might have been otherwise. We ate dinner together at a table with silver candlesticks. It might have been otherwise. I slept in a bed in a room with paintings on the walls, and planned another day just like this day. But one day, I know, it will be otherwise." ~Jane Kenyon