The Moment

According to Merriam-Webster, Moment is: “a: tendency or measure of tendency to produce motion especially about a point or axis. b: the product of quantity (such as a force) and the distance to a particular axis or point.” Roughly speaking, in terms of an aircraft, the “moment” has to do with weight and balance of the aircraft. For me, The Moment is “the present.” There is a good bit written these days about “living in the moment”– totally absorbing the present time.

Paige, my late wife, had a quote fastened on her computer; “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it The Present.” She lived by that maxim. It is “Living in the Moment.” An ancient but favorite mentor of mine is Brother Lawrence, from a Carmelite monastery in the 1600’s. He is known for his teachings on “The Practice of the Presence of God” —experiencing God in every moment. Brother Lawrence found every moment, even when scrubbing pots in the galley, as sacred as The Eucharist.

Recently, while looking for a photo in my album (that’s stretching the term—it’s actually a packing box), I ran across a precious picture. It was Zach, my grandson and me. We were mowing the lawn. He is in front of me, holding onto the crossbar of the self-propelled mower; I am behind him, holding the handlebars. Obviously, Zach was intent on cutting grass. You could see it on his face.

As I pondered the picture I wondered about that moment. Did I savor the moment? Was I aware of its meaning to this little kid who could barely see over the crossbar? Did I help him savor a moment that would suddenly be over? That moment is gone. I cannot retrieve it. Actually, every moment captured in each photo in that passel of pictures is gone.

I can mulligrub over moments lost, or I can claim Paige’s maxim: “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.”-–Claim the moment. Not every moment is delightful. Yet—and yet; I recall some disastrous memories; like on vacation when a goat ate Paige’s purse at Six Flags, or the engine blew up on our car near Defuniak Springs, Florida. All of which often gave us later—-sometimes much later—lots of laughs and loads of stories to tell. The. Moment. Is. Now. Claim it. Savor it.