This Moment

My phone dinged one afternoon and when I read the words on the screen I had a freak out moment in my head.

Then I literally laughed out loud.  I realized I had set an alarm the night before and titled it “Enjoy your last few mins.”  

You see, I’m one of those annoying people that sets like six alarms so I can trick myself into waking up in the morning.

“Aw crap, it’s time to get out of bed… oh WAIT, I have like 5 more minutes until my next alarm!” I realize it makes no sense at all, but ya know what, I fall for it every time and it’s amazing (until the last alarm goes off and then it was all pointless).

Well, the night before I had apparently made the mistake of setting one of those alarms for 6:24 PM instead of AM, thus the alarm announcing my demise in the middle of the day, causing said mini heart attack.

Now let me clarify that I’m not a paranoid person who walks around all day waiting for my imminent death, nor do I think that iPhones send us encrypted messages about our fatality, this one just caught me off guard, okay?

But then I got to thinking as my heart picked back up to pace, “what if those were my last few minutes?”

I don’t know about you but I find myself spending a lot of my days just trying to get to the next minute.  Trying to get to the next nap time, trying to get to daddy getting home, trying to just get this day over with so my fussy teething Ellia can finally be in bed.  Trying to get to the next day and the next week.

Yes I rush through bath time to get to bed time, yes I practically sprint through the grocery store with Ellia to just get through the shopping fiasco, and yes I may or may not be that mom who drives a liiiiiiittle over the speed limit to get cranky baby home.

Our whole life turns into a blur of trying to get to another moment and we forget the moments that are making us who we are.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with looking forward to our (maybe happier and quieter) future, I was just struck by how significant those few moments felt to me after that alarm went off.

I really felt them.

And ya know, it really gave me a new perspective on how I view my moments.

Each moment that happens will never happen again.  There’s no promise for the next moment either.  Every breath I take in is a gift from God and the same goes for those around me that I love.  

If you think about it, always wanting to get out of the moment we’re in and into another is kind of a bratty way to live our lives, right? It’s like I’m saying, “I’m not content with where I’m at, I want something else.” AKA, brat.

No, we can’t spend every moment of our day wandering around in a daze just soaking up how amazing that moment is, that’s ridiculous.  And not all moments can be enjoyed because sadly we live in a broken world and pain is a part of our lives.

But sometimes we need to stop for an attitude check, look around our world and be thankful to our Maker for the moments we’re having and the people we’re having them with, rather than trying to rush through them.

Even more importantly, remember Who gave them to you, because only He knows how many more you have left. Your iPhone won’t tell you, I promise.

And yes, I will most likely be the first to forget everything I just typed out right here, but I hope that these words will serve as even just a brief reminder to you in this moment.