Heighten Your Senses

Growing up in Minnesota I was afforded the opportunity to spend a bulk of summer vacation at a cabin located on Green Lake outside of the small town of Spicer. I remember spending countless early mornings sitting on the dock over the serene water. As everything was motionless and tranquil it was as if my senses were heightened and any disturbance no matter how small was magnified in this peacefully induced state.

There was a carefree existence that is often hard to emulate in the stress consumed lifestyle that society burdens our minds with. Our lives and senses become hostage to the mundane and less challenging procedural duties of the day. It’s difficult to remove ourselves from the daily operations and existence without causing a negative ripple effect to our production and protection of family life and security. We can’t simply remove ourselves from life to find this serenity without a negative response.

An experience that I carry with me to this day is fantastically cliché but nevertheless it happened and on my watch. On the corner of 7^th Ave and 4^th Street in the city of my upbringing I was no more than 12 years old and wasting time on an afternoon after school in the front yard. Over on 5^th Ave there was a grocery store which most of the neighbors shopped, it was relatively well placed but since has been removed. On that September afternoon as I played in the yard there was an elderly woman that was struggling with her grocery bags; she was 2 blocks into her journey home on foot and struggling to carry the groceries. Without much of a thought other than the lessons learned in Sunday school and Scouts I hurried to help her. She was glad to receive the help, informed me she lived 2 blocks from here and we began the journey. I still can visualize the kindness in her eyes and her thankful acceptance of the help. I remember walking home with a smile of accomplishment that couldn’t be erased from my face; I ran in the house and informed my mother of my good deed, I was on top of the world.

Our daily interactions and stressful situations will leave their indelible mark but it is in our power to receive a heightened sense of acceptance and self worth. We can at any moment alter our environment by opening our minds to be prepared to provide service in a moment’s notice. It should be a requirement in our preparation for the day to be looking for opportunities to serve. If there is a time when our mind begins the downward pull on conscience there is a solution that will reap a reward every time without fail - that solution is service.