The Benefits of Running Late

Running on time is an art I am losing. Too often in recent years, I am running just a few minutes late. For a meeting. For work. For getting out the door to wherever I may be headed. It’s not that I don’t have enough time, I just lose track of it.

I am doing this and that, checking more things off my to-do list or getting caught up in some inspiration. My problem is underestimating how long it will take me to get ready. Anyway, I’m human and running a couple minutes late is what it is. I’ll work on it, and when it is really important that I be on time or early, I make that happen.

But there can be benefits to running late. Saturday morning I was running a little late to meeting up with friends. My drive was just a few minutes, but in that short time my car radio play list went like this:

Cat Steven’s “Oh Very Young.”

Todd Rundgren’s “I Saw The Light.”

James Taylor’s “Shower the People.”

The song “Oh Very Young” contains the words “You’re only dancing on this earth for a short while.” Life is precious, fragile, brief. But I can make the most of the short while I am given. Have a good day!

“I Saw the Light” is a song that really hits me when I am coming through painful times—some brief, some long slogs of one step forward, two steps back. I see the light. The answer is plain to see. I return to clarity. I see the light in my own eyes again.

As I neared my destination, “Shower the People” came on and reminded me to shower the people I love with love, let them know how I feel. That morning, I was not only thinking of loved ones in my life, but my fellow humans on this sometimes troubled planet. In order for love to win, more showering is needed.

Three random songs, not so random, bringing love, light, and hope to my chronically late self. The tunes and the messages are still playing in my head and heart a few days later. Thank you Universe for your well—timed delivery. Onward!