Now Is The Time

 

What do you think of when the word gift comes to mind? Piles of wrapped packages? Multi-colored paper under a Christmas tree? A smile when you need it?

I think we all forget that we are given one of the greatest, most beautiful gifts of all time with every breath we take:

This moment.

(Pictures from Pinterest)

Waiting

We're always waiting. Waiting for tomorrow. For when we graduate high school. For when we finish college. For when we turn thirty. For a day when the sky is clear or a when we have milk in the refrigerator again. For when we finish that school assignment, complete our first draft, or for summer to arrive. Maybe we're waiting for next Christmas, next holiday season, when some relatives who didn't visit this year will come next year.

The truth is we are always waiting for something. 

And there's nothing wrong with that. 

But sometimes, I feel that we get so caught up in anticipation for tomorrow, for that "time we're waiting for," that we forget we are living in now. And Now is a beautiful thing.

(Pictures from Pinterest)

 

Green Flashes

Have you ever seen a green flash at sunset? Living on the Pacific coast, I've been blessed to see more than a dozen. As the sun starts to set, people watch the horizon, wondering "Will it be clear?" Whether it is or not, cars flock to the nearest beach, and the shores fill with photographers and families alike. As the sun gets lower and lower, everyone holds their breath. "Will it be a green flash?"

You have to stare really hard at the horizon. It always makes me nervous that the glare of the sun will hurt my eyes. But then.... the red ball of fire slips below the watery world. A tiny little spark of emerald green flashes as the last sliver of sun disappears. It doesn't shoot miles into the sky like the movies. It's just a pop, a beautiful flash of color, and then it's gone.

Every moment of our lives is like that green flash. 

Beautiful. Rare. Brief. One moment will never be like the next. And they slip by, faster than we can count, dozens with every breath we take. No matter how long they really are, they are slipping by with every second. 

So why are we waiting?  

Why are we waiting for that tomorrow? Why are we waiting until the sun shines to take a walk? There's a beauty in the rain. Why are we waiting for a perfect opportunity, a straight bridge to our dreams? There's a perfectly good set of stepping stones right under our feet. Why are we waiting until we're done with school to find what God calls us to do? There's nothing wrong with starting young.

Stop waiting. 

Stop waiting for that moment when everything is perfect, when everything falls into place and everything feels just right. It won't come. It never will. Not in this life, anyway. I often find myself searching for that moment when everything is all right and perfect, when I feel so alive I could just burst.

Then I realized:

I am alive right now. I'm just not looking at the beauty of these passing moments.  

(Pictures from Pinterest)

   

 Gifts

I realized every moment we live is a moment granted to us by God. No moments are "wasted" or "worthless" or "horrible." They're all the same. It's just how we look at them. We can make a moment into whatever we want.

Imagine this: every decision we make, every thought we form, every action we take in a moment is going to affect the moments that come after it, and every one henceforth. Intriguing concept, isn't it? I'll say it again:

Every moment we live affects the next, weaving together the outstanding tapestry of our lives. 

Every moment we can choose, every moment we can change, and every moment we are alive. 

So why are we waiting? 

Stop waiting.

Now is the time.

Do what you want to do. Don't wait until tomorrow to work on that book if you want to do it today. No. Set your priorities straight and GO. Go travel. Go see the world. Go make friends. Go spread love. Go share smiles. You don't know if tomorrow is going to be there. We never know. So how would you live today knowing that tomorrow might not be there?

The moments are as fleeting and beautiful as that green flash at sunset. Only they aren't something you see "once in a lifetime." You're living in one right now. So go live it. Plan for the future -- yes. See how far you've come -- yes. But don't do that so much that you forget you are living in a beautiful, wild, free, and rare moment of NOW.

If God gives you a green light for your dream, if He tells you go....

Run with your dream.

And live.

Now is the time.   

This holiday season, let's live in the moment of Now, enjoying the company of the relatives and friends who are around us, and remembering that before we know it, we'll be in "that moment" we've been waiting for.

<3

- Audrey Caylin

(for some reason this post didn't go out on time :P Sorry about that, guys!)

Have you ever found yourself living so much in the past and future that you forget the present? What are your thoughts on this?