Moments

Life is a series of moments.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. For some reason, this simple line slipped into my mind like a gentle whisper, and it feels as though it has been tugging at my heart. Moments. What are moments? I would describe them as fleeting points in time, pieces of life that flash only briefly before your eyes and then fade into the distance. Moments don’t last very long.

But the more I think about it, the more I realize that life isn’t just one dusty, winding road with no end in sight. It is simply a single step, that leads to another step as soon as we attempt the first one. The steps are all connected but we must mount the ones at the bottom before we can move on to the top. All too often I try to skip steps. I view my future as a daunting journey and when I dwell on all that lies ahead, the mere prospect is far too overwhelming.

I’m glad that life isn’t really like that. I’m glad that life is about stringing together each little moment, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. I’m glad that in the moments of struggle and pain, of suffering and despair, the strength I need for that specific obstacle will be given to me at that exact time. And then I can allow that moment, that moment and all of its sorrow and sadness and hurt, to fade into the distance. That moment may have brought me to the next step, but I don’t need to focus on it any longer, not when a new moment is upon me and I have yet another chance to start again.

Because isn’t that all life is? If life is a series of moments, and each one is passing to make way for a new one, then we are constantly being offered the opportunity for renewal, for re-focusing and re-turning to the light, to the one place that is really important. It doesn’t matter how many of the past moments we have wasted or misused. They are so far in the distance now we have to strain to see them. And the moments not yet lived are shadows on the horizon, appearing eerie only because we can’t yet discern their shapes.

Stop looking behind you. Stop looking ahead. It’s useless.

Instead, live in the moment you are being given right now; take this opportunity and this chance to start again. And when that moment is done… move on to the next one.