“It all goes so quickly….”
This is accompanied with a semi-distant look recalling thousands of memories at once like dancing fireflies in fields of Southern Summers past. It has a tone that blend the mournful and joyous. Then comes the constant reminder; “Don’t let the moments slip away. Soak them up for all they are worth.”
Children grow up. Even the best celebrations have to end. If there is one thing that is true for all of us it is that we can’t stop time and we can’t go back. All we have is now and maybe we will be blessed with tomorrow.
Unfortunately, we allow the stress and the future planning to rob us of our opportunity to exist within the moment we have with our family, friends, and beloved. We do know that it is important to live now, but we think that we have time to get to that “being present” in my life thing later, after the crisis has ended, the project has been turned it, the future becomes more clear.
We all need to work. We should all make plans for tomorrow. We should also hold on loosely to that work and the plans for they don’t carry the same weight as the people in our lives.
I don’t have the power to stop or reverse time. When the rain comes (or in our current case snow), or the future is filled with more questions than answers, and hope is a thread so small it could disappear in pile of dust, we can still be present with the people in our lives. We can let them help carry the load for a while. We can make the most of this moment!
May the God who has given you this day reveal to you all the people who God placed in your life to help, cry, laugh and be with you in this moment.
Rev. Shawn J. Smith 