This Moment

Have you ever had the sense that this moment is slipping away? It is. We are all only allotted a certain amount of moments before our time on earth is done. What are we to do with this moment? Certainly its existance isn't for nothing. One moment leads to the next from the time we are born until the time we die. Soloman writes in Ecclesiastes,

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Beyond any shadow of a doubt, I know that my primary purpose now is the nurturing and raising of my three beautiful children - Caleb, Emet, and Anna Ruth.....loving and serving my wonderful husband and best friend, Jason......honoring and welcoming friends and strangers alike.....making my home a place of refuge and light, hope and friendship.

Yet, what of this very moment, God? This moment when I gaze down at the sleeping faces of my beautiful children, these priceless gifts you have given into my care? I see it fleeting before me. Time has taught me that this moment passes into the next right before my very eyes.

Our boys watched the movie Toy Story at a friend's house tonight and were scared. I hadn't thought anything of letting them watch it but now am reminded just how very tender and fragile their little spirits are. Time will change this, it always does. Their time of innocent childhood is so very short. When we came home, Jason took Caleb and laid down with him on the couch, like he used to do when he was a tiny baby. But, Caleb is so big now. Yet, he was just born, wasn't he?.....several moments ago....

I look at the pictures on my computer in fast forward, and time is literally passing before my very eyes. I wonder, did I make the most of each moment?

So, what did I do with that moment...the one that was this moment several moments ago? I gazed at my babies, I stroked each little forehead and touched each little nose. I prayed to God to protect them and keep them safe, to give us wisdom and strength as we raise them up, and I shed a tear of nostalgia for the inevitable passing of that moment - knowing full well that before too long, I won't be gazing at my small babies any longer......that I would be a woman of advanced age with greying hair and a lined face and would stare with awe and amazement back the youthful pictures of myself , my husband and my babies.

Heavenly Father - help me to follow the road you would have me travel; help me to make those lines on my face lines of laughter and joy and kindness. Help me to guard the hearts and minds of my children until it is time for me to prepare them for the big world ahead of them, then help me to point them in the right direction. Help me to live this moment from now until my last with Your purpose and not mine.....and to make the most of this moment........