Senses

 In Featured, Pastor Paul's Blog

By Pastor Paul Gauche

Today’s Word: ‘Senses’ as in… we’ve got five of them. Five windows through which to see the world a little differently each day.

I’ve been revisiting Frederich Buechner’s unique challenge to live differently than we usually live. In his book, Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation, Buechner writes,

“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis, all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”

What a grand invitation to listen, see, touch, taste, and smell the fullness of life!

But living like this requires extra measures of intentionality, mainly because we usually move far too quickly to allow such extravagances. And yet, our senses were given to us for a reason. The ability to listen, see, touch, taste, and smell has kept us alive in some instances. Listen. Look. Touch. Taste. Smell. Five windows into deeper, thriving lives today. An excellent way to live this kind of life is to begin by thanking the One who gave us our senses.

Try this: Taste your food. You can’t taste it if you don’t chew it. And sit down when you eat. And for crying out loud, don’t eat in your car. Or this: Don’t hurry to get into your car when the garage door opens in the morning. Stand still and watch the curtain on the morning rise as the door opens. Give yourself a gift by dwelling in that moment. Just look at the day. What do you see? Close your eyes for a moment and listen. What do you hear? Birds? Breeze? Cars? Children? Now take a deep breath. What do you smell? What do you taste? Be aware of where you are right now.

When we participate in disciplines like these, we open ourselves up to thriving at a deeper level. I’m pretty sure you didn’t do this yesterday, and today you did. See how great it is?

#100days50words

Paul Gauche is the Pastor of Life Transitions at Prince of Peace. His posts are part of his #100days50words project, where he blogs about a different word each week. You can follow his project on Instagram (@pgauche) or his blog, Thriving Rhythms.

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