Situational awareness is a key factor in life. I remember reading a Hardy Boys novel in my young days. The adolescent boys have a good natured hefty friend, Chet, who is in many of their adventures. Amid one of these sleuthing adventures, Frank Hardy tests Chet’s situational awareness.
Paraphrase of a twenty year old memory:
“Chet, let’s test that memory of yours to see if you are ready to be a detective. Our pop used to ask us questions like this when we told him we would be detectives like him.”
“Sure, Frank”
“What was the color of the sweater the man who served us lunch at the cafe was wearing?”
“Well… I don’t know Frank. Does it matter?”
In the story, the color of the sweater didn’t matter and it wouldn’t have made a difference in Chet’s life if he started remembering the color of other mens sweaters. As such, I didn’t incorporate that skill into my life. You can wear whatever color sweater you like around me on back to back days.
There is a camouflage of time that I do find interesting. Nature keeps you from remembering what you see. Everyone has been on the mountaintop, but do you remember the specific view, or the raw awesome beauty transcending the daily concerns?
My memories, when they do tie to specifics, are tied to pictures and discussed later. These are weak and second hand but still worthy of review, and with someone else who was with you they kindle warmth in the soul.
God paints daily at dusk and dawn. The gift is for that moment. You cannot effectively preserve it with photography, pastels or prose. Many treasures of His creation are like this. His critters who live in the moment create for those living in the moment with the situational awareness. It is good practice pace yourself to see beyond the busy and the camouflage of time.
Children engaging with nature are masters of this. They get even better with practice. They pull parents back into that moment. These barefeet feel the grass better then the shodden souls of the adult.
For us, it’s part of the zest in the homestead homeschool. It can only be cultivated and never bought. For anyone, part of God’s gift is that the moment is always happening, and the next one is just ahead.
As a wiser man once said, and I am still learning the fullness of it:
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:34
https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.6.34.ESV