In acknowledgment of May as Mental Health Awareness Month, I’d like to offer you some perspective on busyness.

I take my four-year-old granddaughter to the library program every week. A couple of weeks ago, she asked me if there were any books about hurrying. Naturally, I asked the children’s librarian. If you follow me on social media, you know I think librarians are magical creatures. What they don’t know, they can find out and they recommend books you might not have discovered otherwise.

Anyway, we asked the librarian and she found us several books about hurrying. She had to request them from other libraries, but the next week we were able to pick up our books. One of those books was Hurry Up by Kate Dopirak, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal. For whatever reason, it was the last book we read that week.

Friends, we shouldn’t have waited. We should have read that book first. I’ve known for years that children’s books contain gems of wisdom and learning opportunities, but I usually see the lessons geared toward children.

Hurry Up is a book everyone should read. We read it at the most opportune time, and my granddaughter made me read it again as soon as we were done. I didn’t mind. The book starts out showing a child getting up in the morning, hurrying to get dressed, rushing to school, and being busy all day. Then the child yells “Stop!”

And the book slows down. It talks of taking long walks, looking at flowers, exploring the world, and enjoying each moment.

My life has been hectic for months now. I haven’t taken much time to slow down and relax. Mostly the moments I do slow down involve my children or grandchildren. My children are all busy, too, with school and prom and graduation and work. But when they ask me to be there for them, I am there without distractions. My grandchildren pull me into their world of play and exploration, and I am grateful for the moments of hopscotch and sidewalk chalk at the library, or science experiments at the kitchen table.

Take five minutes to read this book – I’m sure your library has it or can get it. Read the lesson it contains. It’s actually more important to enjoy the journey than to rush through it. You’ll miss so much along the way if you don’t take time to look around.

Explore, my friends, and remember to breathe into your life.