Being vs. Doing

Those who have been want to check my blog on a fairly regular basis over the summer may have noticed it's been some time since I last posted. I hope you haven't missed me too much. There have been two major factors. The first one was hosting a visitor for about a week. Then following that I was off to Anchorage where I got to visit another friend and run a marathon. In that time I did learn a lesson, or perhaps more accurately reminded of one.

Between hosting a couple of friends this summer and then being hosted by a friend this summer I got to think about being versus doing. My tendency as friends were preparing to visit was to come up with an entire agenda of things to do. I felt the need to schedule as much activity as I could cram into their visit without totally wearing them out. I wanted my friends to experience as much of the area as they possibly could. I found the same thing happening from the other end as I was preparing to visit Anchorage. As my friends schedule limited the amount of time together I received apologies for not doing more. Yet after all three of these visits this past summer I found that the best part, the highlights if you will, was just being with my friends. Why do we spend so much time doing? Why do we find it so difficult to just be, specifically just be with one another? Being, it seems, is so much better than doing...not that doing is bad, but it always seems better when the doing leads to being with someone. What a blessing it has been this summer to be able to just be with some special friends.