Moments

                I’ve been a really deep thinker for awhile now, and as I was dizzy and tired the other day, I sat down and simply listened to the conversations going on around me. I heard Grant and Amy talking about something, and I heard my name mentioned and a laugh. I then heard Jillian’s name and I thought that it must have something to do with spiders, because both Jillian and I are scared of them.

                Well, as I was sitting there, I began thinking about what prompted the conversation, why the two of them would respond the way they did, why I was listening, why I connected what the conversation must have been about… and I recalled something I learned once.

                Victor Hugo, who wrote the popular Les Miserables, also wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Apparently, he once recalled how he thought of the story of Hunchback. He had gone into Notre Dame and found an etching in the wall. It was simply the word “fate”. Nothing else. Just hewn in the stone wall was the word “fate”. That was when Hugo’s creative mind began to take off onto the story. He wondered about how the word got there, the kind of hand that etched it, what brought the person to Notre Dame, and what would cause them to scratch into the wall this word and what their meaning was behind it.

                Well, in the same way – what made Grant bring up Jillian and I? What made Amy laugh the way she does? What made her think that was funny? What made me sit there and listen? What caught my ear? Why did Jillian answer the way she did? Why did I make that connection? Why was I dazed? Why were we in the location we were? What caused Grant and Amy to be standing next to each other? What caused that? What caused that? What caused that?

                In a word: Moments.

                The everyday, second-to-second moments.

                Think about it. Say you’re sitting at your computer in your bedroom reading this right now. Why are you? Why are you reacting the way you are to this sentence? Why are you bothering to read this anyway?

                One moment led you to this sentence. One moment led you to this paper. One moment led you to that chair. One moment led you to that room. One moment led you to the clothes you’re wearing. One moment led you to each day you live, each next moment was an effect from the last moment’s cause. You take another step because you took one before. You stop because of something that caused you to.

                To take a brief pause in case you don’t understand - I love airplanes. I love riding on them, yes – but the reason I love them the most… is the psychology and the MOMENTS it’s full of (especially a Southwest plane)! Well, think of this. Each person on the plane – may they be a pilot, stewardess, or passenger – is sitting there with a past, with parents, with a story, with a reason, with a destination, all carrying different items from different places, with people, with thoughts, with memories, with a future, etc. etc. etc.

                Now to throw time in the mix of all of it: each of you on that plane happened to be on that specific flight, all from the same place – going to the same destination, but with different people to meet, different reasons for doing so – at the exact same time.

                To get back to my original point, each moment is important. If one moment had changed, you wouldn’t be where you are today.

                Each moment you spend is a moment you SPENT.

                Each moment you use is a moment you USED for something.

`               The domino effect: Take out one domino and the entire picture is changed. If you were to change anything, you would be different.

                Something caused Grant to think about Jillian and I. Something caused Amy to laugh. Something caused us to be standing where we were. All of these could be from the previous moment, or they could even be the effect of a moment from long ago. Something put a pattern into Amy’s mind to laugh a certain way. Something genetic probably made me think in this crazy way I do. And the procrastinating my homework and finally reading it the night before caused me to be tired, and sitting down.

                But the way I see it – is that if we live our moments like each and every SINGLE ONE is something that is used and spent, and can’t ever actually be wasted… then perhaps we’ll understand why we’re called to stay so close to God. If we spend our moments on something other than Him, we’ll end up in effects that aren’t about Him.

                I don’t mean that you can’t relax and play a game or read a book, just because that’s a moment not for Him. That’s okay. That’s definitely okay, I do it all the time, but every moment you use takes you to the next moment. And like you can fill a giant bag with rice kernels, an entire drawer with socks, or a safe with one dollar bills, your moments add up.

                Spend them wisely.