A Moment

What’s in a moment? Can we find life in every breath?

Sometimes, I have a hard time throwing things away. I’m that guy who has 2000+ emails in his Gmail account. I don’t really do the same thing with physical objects—at least not to the same extent. I’m not afraid of loss, because loss is a part of life. It’s the little things that make life special that I treasure. [A bright-eyed glace, a mote of dust floating in a sunbeam, a cold, cold breeze breathed in deep]

I once knew someone, a good friend of mine: We used to see each other every week at church. We laughed and lived together, and shared a love of the little things. Even though her taste in little things may have been a bit different than mine… There were plenty of excellent moments shared between us. And I got to keep one as a souvenir for a while.

I suppose that’s the advantage of having the same cell phone carrier for 5 years: You can save your voicemail messages.

The message in question wasn’t long, nor was it short. It was precise, and thought-out.

Except for one part.

For a moment, thoughtful speech patterns broke down, and tone changed. In the lightest, most timid tone—as though the words would shatter like crystal—emerged the words,

‘I hope so.’

And then the moment was gone. The shield of intellect and raised, and the thoughtful message concluded.

    It was neat…

I saved that message for about a year. In that year, so much happened, so much changed. Every now and then, when I thought of it, I would listen to that message. It would remind me of Highschool, and of good friends, of church, and of little moments. Passing afternoons.

I got rid of the message, but the memory is grafted into me. It’s a sharp memory, piercing my consciousness, reminding me of the nuances that all flow and coalesce into a moment in time.

“At that moment, Heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him…”

Matthew 3:16

“All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll.”

Isaiah 34:4

The Bible is full of extraordinary, ethereal, and gorgeous moments. Moments that far surpass any sunset or little voicemail. Moments are magical—They come and as soon as you realize what you’re seeing, they pass away over the horizon. They are fleeting, but still visible, images and feelings phantasmically preserved in memory.

Fire coming down from heaven to a damp altar/

Smoke from incense in the very presence of the very God/

Creation weeping, in an instant, trembling as its maker dies on a cross/

A soldier, sworn to serve Caesar, shouting that the one on the cross is the son of God/

God is not only Lord of eternity, he is God of the moment.

-WWS