In The Moment…

Have you ever took a moment…I mean a real moment…to stop, take a deep breath, close your eyes and think about where you are in this present moment?

This was my recent experience.

I had just finished retrieving Mr. Man’s Oklahoma State University memorabilia that he wanted to place in a new curio cabinet I recently purchased for him from a local thrift store, when I looked toward the living room from my desk, surveyed the recent changes I had made (including rearranging the furniture), when the thought occured to me, “Where am I in this present moment; what can I do better, and how best should I live today?”

I suppose the thought occurred to me mainly due to the recent sudden death of friend of a friend over the weekend. This particular friend left California Thursday to attend a niece’s graduation in Nebraska Saturday afternoon when my friend received news that his friend had suddenly passed away.

I heard the words (when my friend told me), but my mind, I was having difficulty processing those words. “What!?”, I said to myself. “Bobby passed away!? That is insane.”

Naturally I focused on my friend and what he was feeling (in that moment) rather than the disbelief I was experiencing (in that moment).

The point of the matter is that we were both having an experience (in the moment), albeit different experiences that were both connected to the same news — the passing of a friend.

While I wasn’t necessarily sad for Bobby (the friend who passed away) because in transitioning into eternal life he is no longer suffering from the ailments that plagued him in life, I was grieving for my friend who had only recently spoke with his friend a few days before.

It was while I was in that present moment that I really began to consider the following: What am I doing (or not doing) to better my life and the lives of my neighbors, and what do I need to do moving forward (in this present moment) that God is blessing me with to improve my relationship with Christ, serve my neighbors, and to be a better neighbor to myself and my neighbors?

“What does that look like?”, I asked myself. I don’t know what that looks like (yet), but I am going to find out.