You know how it is some days- you read a post on Facebook, something that resonates with you, perhaps you’ve read it before and you keep the gist of it in your heart, maybe you ‘share’ it on Facebook, maybe make a copy of it to save in a journal and you move on.  That happened to me the other day in three separate ways so I considered that the universe was hoping I would pay attention….again.

In this particular case it was multiple  reminders we’ve all probably seen about ‘living in the moment’, that ‘our life is waiting for us’, ‘don’t put off living by waiting for perfection’, stop waiting for the perfect moment’ and they all relate to things going on in our lives that we think will make a difference- I’ll wait til I lose those last 5 pounds,  I’ll wait til it’s a sunny day, it’s too hot/cold, etc.  On and on we rationalize and still the moments tick away and come back no more.

So a variation of the ‘waiting for the perfect moment’ was the post I read on Facebook first thing that day.  “Fair enough”, I thought, I can relate very deeply to that.  Then a few hours later while looking for something in my wallet out dropped a newspaper clipping I have carried around for probably more than 15 years.  I know it’s in there but I rarely open it anymore to read it because I know the story by heart.  It is a Dear Abbey letter that a gentleman wrote about his own ‘waiting for the perfect moment’ as he relates how for many years he and his wife promised themselves they were going to take a trip to Tahiti-after the kids left home, after the mortgage was paid, after he retired, etc.  When finally the coast looked clear enough to start actively planning their trip his wife was diagnosed with a very aggressive and terminal disease and she died before they could get to Tahiti.  His letter was full of regret for thinking there was all the time in the world to do what they wanted to do and he wanted to caution others that sometimes there is no ‘perfect moment’, that all we have is the moment in front of us which more often than not is perfect enough.  He closed by noting that the kids could have stayed with family, that the mortgage was not in danger of being late, that he had plenty vacation time….Sigh…

For many of us these “perfect moments” are perhaps less about a trip or about having enough resources to do what we’d like but about thinking that the kingdom of God is somewhere out there and not here with us now in the ordinary moments of our lives so we sort of miss the forest for the trees, as the saying goes.  Scripture says, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love Him’.  I believe that a foretaste of that kingdom God promises is here in the arms of those we love, in the sounds of birds, and wind and the rustling of trees and the sound of waves breaking on the shore, laughing with our family and friends and that we are meant to enjoy them now and not brush them off as not a gift from God.

As  the day was winding down earlier this week I read Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s reflection for August 22 in which he writes: “…But to put it plainly, for a man in his wife’s arms to be hankering after the other world is, in mild terms, a piece of bad taste, and not God’s will”.  WOW! 

He goes on to write, “God will see to it that those who find the Divine in earthly happiness and thank God for it do not lack reminder that earthly things are transient, that it is good for them to attune their hearts to what is eternal, and that sooner or later there will be times when they can say in all sincerity, ‘I wish I was home’.  But everything has its time and the main thing is that we keep step with God and do not keep pressing on a few steps ahead- nor keep dawdling a step behind’.”

I have a friend named Pat who lives in Pittsburgh and is a first-class artist.  We actually only met a few times over the course of a few days when we were in London with our husbands who were there taking a legal deposition.  We had dinner a few times and she and I immediately connected on so many levels.  Pat has recently and successfully completed treatment for breast cancer- she is a hero to me and although we now mostly stay in touch via Facebook the connection we felt those days in London is  still there.  Earlier today, in preparation of some pieces she is working on she asked those of us of Facebook for, “…words that inspire, comfort and uplift…and which words would we choose?”.

The choices are as varied as the lives we all live and the circumstances that we face each day.  They all resonated with me and I could probably choose any one of them at any given  time during a particular minute, hour, day, week.  These are  the words that were shared, which ones call to you and what would you add to the list?

“Be~ Perspective~ Courage~

Hope~Faith~ Peace~ Believe~

Perseverence~ Grateful~ Unrelenting~

Spirit~Wisdom~Grace~

Patience~Bliss~Breathe~

Power~Strength~Gratitude~ “Be Still”

Of course, for every positive and affirming and nurturing word there are those others that call to us and try to pull us into the darkness- words like “hate, anger, despair, doubt, envy, grief, greed, etc.  I am guilty of sometimes wanting to hold onto those hurt feelings and have myself a little ‘pity party’.

I believe that in and of themselves those  thoughts have the power to transform us and turn us back to the light- they are feelings and reactions that we have as humans to situations and events in our lives and in our world but first I think we have to honor them and give witness to what happened to cause us to feel as we do. It is then that we have the choice to stay as we are and fester in the negative energy or  match them as best we can with the words that Pat asked us to share.