We plan for the special moments.
Birthdays.
Anniversaries.
The visit of friends.
A long anticipated trip.
But, in the end, it is the everyday moments which matter the most.
The hand held.
The meal shared.
The game of catch.
The game of cards.
The kiss goodnight.
After all, it is those everyday moments which add up to a lifetime.
The Window
Is it wasting time
I wonder
If I just stand and look out the window
At the snow
Down the street
At nothing.
Is it wasting time
If I just stand and look out the window
At everything there
But not seeing any of it
Lost for a moment
In the wilderness of my own soul
Looking
Searching
Longing
For I am not quite sure what
But for what I sense is there
Somewhere
Just beyond what I can see.
The Time You Don’t Have
Most mornings, while I am eating breakfast, I listen to NPR’s Up First podcast. Like they say:
The news you need to start your day.
The biggest stories and ideas – from politics to pop culture – in ten minutes.
The timing for me is just right.
Ten minutes is about the time it takes me to eat my bowl of cereal and drink my cup of coffee.
While I like the podcast (it is more news than Fox and Friends or Morning Joe), it is the ad for the show which caught my attention. In it the announcer lists all the tasks you cram into the limited amount of time you have in the morning.
Get up.
Get out of bed.
Get ready for work.
Get the children up and off to school.
Get yourself out the door.
And, then this…
All in the time you don’t have.
Here is the truth.
There is only going to be one day in my life when I run out of time. Until then, the time allotted to me is mine to decide how I will use it. I can be busy and run out of time, rushing from this moment to the next. I can push the kids out the door and onto the bus. I can race from here to there and back again. Or, I can be busy, but still pay attention to the moment at hand. To the person in front of me. To the concern that lingers. Looking back, my regrets often have something to do with thinking/imaging I did not have the time.
For her.
For that.
For you.
I wish I could recall and do over some of those moments.
The issue for us is not our busyness.
But how we chose to live in all those busy moments.
Precious
Looking back
All those days and weeks
All the time gone by and spent
Are precious.
Those moments which once were
But will never again be
Except in some snippet of memory
Tucked away
Somewhere
Until some sight or sound
Pulls them to the surface
Where, for a moment, they live again.
Only to disappear
Again.
As I get older
The time in front of me is also precious
Numbered now in months or years
That I can count
And imagine.
The challenge for me today
Is to allow this moment
The one I have right now
With whatever it holds
To also be precious
As precious as those moments past
And the moments that are yet to be.
Today
Today I will spend the most precious thing I have.
The moments of this day.
There is no saving them.
No time bank account.
No storing them away for when I have more energy.
Or more creativity.
Or, more wisdom.
Today, just as I am right now, each moment is spent.
For something.
For someone.
May I do my best to spend my time well.
No Do Overs
Here, at the end of the day
I wonder
Can I go back
And have a do over for the moments I spent today?
So, I can hold for a moment now
What I realize I missed then.
As I went from this to that.
Going down my list.
Everything on it important.
Can I have a do over?
So I can pay more attention in that moment just past.
And, take a bit more time to enjoy that chance conversation.
And, to listen better.
And, to listen even better than that.
But, there are no do overs for moments already spent.