Make those moments

"You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)  I used to have a teacher who frequently reminded us, "There is no time like the present", especially when giving us a big assignment or sending us on our way to discover things we were studying firsthand.  In essence, he was reminding us of the desire to put off what needs to be done today and how much that impacts the benefit out of what it is we could realize if we just did it.  I have never been a big procrastinator, liking to just "get er done", unless the project ahead of me was just way too big for me and I was a little more than uncertain about how to tackle it.  There is some room for "pre-planning" and getting oneself in a position or posture to tackle what lies ahead, but when that "pre-work" gets in the way of us moving at all, it isn't good! 

Whoever pursues justice and treats others with kindness discovers true life marked by integrity and respect. (Proverbs 21:21 VOICE)

I often take notes at meetings, then come back as quickly after those meetings to put those notes into a usable format by which I may have an accurate reflection of what it is we wanted to accomplish through our efforts together.  It isn't just that I like to be on top of my work, but because I have learned if I put something off too long, the details seem to get muddled in my brain and I lose the benefit of the moment together.  There are times I think we put off letting someone know how much they have impacted our lives, that they really matter to us, or even that we want to be a blessing to them - not because we don't have all the good intentions in the world, but because we just don't consider the benefit of the moment. 

I would like to count on having ample opportunities to be a positive influence in the lives of my grandsons, but I truthfully don't know just how many "moments" I will actually have with them, so I try to make them count.  I don't know when it will be the last time I will tell mom, "I love you, a bushel and a peck, and a hug around the neck," so I take advantage of each one.  I may not know when passing you by will be the exact moment you needed me to stop, notice, and invest in your life - but I want to be obedient to those times when I know I should say something, stop what I am doing, listen intently, etc.  Why?  The moments matter and the time may never be there again - truly there is "not time like the present".

As each day brings reports of new tragedies striking families all around our great big world, it isn't likely we can all look back and proclaim we "made the moments".  There will be regrets, for sure, but if we dwell on the regrets and don't learn the lesson of looking intently for those moments we can make, we aren't really allowing that loss to become the teachable moment it could be for each of us.  We don't even have to look too far forward to realize those moments are right there in front of us - we just need to be looking.  The timing may not always be "convenient", nor the energy level at the "optimum", but if we just put it in neutral long enough, simmer on what it is we think is more demanding or important, we might just realize there are other moments to be made.  Just sayin!