Sometimes joy comes from unexpected places. Last week my sister sent an email out requesting help for a charitable organization with which she’s affiliated. It’s a free pantry and they are trying to organize a toy drive to provide toys for Christmas to the under privileged children of the families that are helped by the free pantry. They decided that it would be wonderful to be able to give each child something of their own to open this holiday season.

I thought it was a very nice idea and something to which my wife and I wanted to donate. Because I have a busy schedule I thought I would just write a check and let either my sister or one of the other volunteers pick up toys, but the more I got to thinking about it I thought it would be a nice gesture to actually go and buy toys myself. So my wife and I went toy shopping today.

I have to say that it was some of the most fun we’ve had in a long time. Once we got to the store and started going down the toy aisle we turned into kids, reaching out for toys and things we thought would be great for the kids. The time flew by and before we knew it an hour had passed and our shopping cart was literally overflowing with toys. We both had to keep our hands on top of the load as we slowly wheeled it to the checkout lines.

It was so powerful to get excited about these toys and to try to see through the childrens’ eyes to capture the excitement we can only hope they have this Christmas. It also was a powerful reminder that we don’t do enough throughout the year to help others. It’s so easy to let the holidays get us caught up with “good cheer” while the rest of the year our “holiday spirit” languishes in the hustle-and-bustle of the daily grind. It really made me take pause today to think about how I can keep myself more motivated throughout the year to help others and not just get “in the mood” during the holidays.

Something as simple as buying these toys made me stop and realize how fortunate my wife and I really are; and it made us realize that we need to take a more active role during the rest of the year to help others too.

As I yawned and stretched awake this morning it dawned on me that it was August first. July had slipped through my fingers and suddenly summer was feeling a little thin and faded. Sure, the weather is still hot and muggly, but in the early morning the very first hints - as faint and delicate as a gentle breeze - of the coming autumn are starting to be felt.

I remember being a child and dreading the coming forced death-march trips for the dreaded and feared back-to-school shopping. Such a trip holds no fun when the prospect of school is on the line. The days of doing nothing, but spending all day doing it were marked.

When I was a child I remember summers being a lot longer. We must have been out of school for five, maybe 6 months it seemed (it also felt like we must have been in school for fourteen, maybe fifteen months too)! Time was different. Summer lasted forever, stretching out before us with unlimited possibilities, the end never in sight.

Sometime between being a kid and becoming an adult time changed. Now every time I blink another month has ticked by. Every time I turn around a season has come and gone. Years tick by with increasing (and alarming) speed. Just last week it feels I was shoveling snow, yesterday I was cutting grass and tomorrow it feels as if I’ll need to rake leaves.

The worst part is there isn’t any break to just…be. Summer vacation is a long gone memory for me, and now school children are being integrated into “year-round” schools. Americans take so little time off and work more than almost any other country. We are productive, but at what expense?

We’re here on this mortal coil for so little time; why do we spend so much time focused only to look up now and then and marvel at how quickly time has passed us by?

We should remember our child within and strive to recapture that feeling of ultimate freedom and possibility that only a hot summer day with no responsibilities can create!