Yesterday was one of those days.
One of those days when, in His gracious provision, my Heavenly Father removed the veil that sometimes blurs my ability to fully see the blessing of a moment in time. I think you might know what I'm talking about. Anyone who has ever sat down to flip through the pages of a treasured family photo album surely must know.
It goes something like this.
You revisit the past and the sweet memories fill your mind and flood your heart.
First steps.
First foods.
Carefree days of summer.
Little ones with little feet.
Fireworks and fireflies.
Loved ones in your midst and loved ones in your heart.
Flooded. Your heart fills absolutely flooded with nostalgia.
Why is it that we feel so intensely in retrospect?
Why does it seem much more challenging to grasp the beauty and signficance of a moment when in real time?
Wouldn't it be sweeter if we could fully experience the wonder of a moment, I mean fully experience it as it is unfolding?
I don't really know why that is.
Perhaps it's like an antique clock.
There's something so beautiful about the softness of its curved lines contrasted with the enduring hardwood form.
And as it captures the minutes and hours and subsequently counts them away, you are not so riveted about the reminder that "time marches on" so much as you are comforted by the lull of the soothing rhythm.
Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.
Perhaps "real time" moments are like that, lulling us with a rhythm that, while soothing, perhaps blur our ability to truly feel the significance and wonder of that particular point in time.
Perhaps.
But I do know this.
My Heavenly Father holds time, all of it, securely in His grasp. And I've come to realize that every now and then He allows me the fullest glimpse of the beauty of a moment, if only for a moment.
No hazy veil.
No photo required to capture it.
And yesterday was one of those days.
As my children played with friends on the playground, I was given a rare chance to sit down on a park bench in glorious sunshine and low humidity. I enjoyed the pleasure of an empty schedule, a light breeze, youthful smiles and giggles. I got to witness other moms lovingly attending to their children. And I got to enjoy a few minutes of conversation with a sweet friend from church whom I don't often get to sit and chat with (she has seven children of her own).
And it occurred to me that I was there.
Fully present.
God was allowing me the gift and privilege of real time awareness.
One of those rare moments where I wouldn't need a photograph to "remember the good old days." I was in the good old days with every sense of my being, taking a wonderful moment in with deep breaths of gratitude.
And it was beautiful.
Fullfilling.
Peace.
An Australian Aboriginal proverb said it this way:
"We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return home."
And God's living Word, alive and present in me, says it so perfectly like this:
"The LORD bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26
Live wise in Him!
~Toni~
