Moments
Sometimes a moment grabs you and won’t let go. Sometimes it stops you cold in your tracks.
I am reading a book by Frederick Buechner called Whistling in the Dark. He takes several topics that may be hard to understand, or are controversial, and tackles them in his own unique way.
I am not that far along in the book yet, but something stood out pretty quickly in his discussion on art. It has to do with what literature, the visual arts, and music require of us. They each create moments that demand we stop and pay attention.
That moment may be something extremely common. When Carol and I visited France a couple of years ago, we visited the Louvre, one of the great art museums in the world. One painting by Cézanne caught my attention like very few paintings ever have. It is called Arbres et Maisons…Trees and Houses. This painting caught my eye in its simple beauty. The moment was captured forever in my mind.
I also have a weird collection, called Favorite Sayings. These are quotes from a variety of sources such as tv programs, Facebook, Bible verses and other places. For example, every time I see the verse in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God,” I am stopped very time. With this, one of my favorite Bible verses, there is nothing I am to do, nothing to say. I am just to be still…like He says.
I have been in music since I was 12 years old and have experienced thousands of moments when something in a piece of music gabs my attention and demands I pay attention to it. The last “Hallelujah,” of the Hallelujah Chorus in Handel’s Messiah, demands my silence every time I hear it even though I have heard it hundreds of times. It is majestic; complete; perfect.
I also recall the first time I held my daughters when they were born. I remember seeing my grandchildren for the first time, pondering the mystery that they are part of me.
Seeing Carol walk down the aisle at our wedding was a heart stopping moment also. Her eyes were red from joyful weeping. I was spellbound seeing this picture of beauty who was soon to be my wife.
On a sadder note, I was with my mom when she breathed her last. We had gone to Lakeside Nursing Home in Alexandria, Ky early that morning. She was more or less out of touch with us, and we never made contact with her again. I gradually began to notice her troubled breathing begin to slow. Finally she exhaled and did not inhale again. That moment changed me forever. Seeing my dad at the funeral home after he died, gave me one of those moments as well.
These things that cause life to pause are moments we are to cherish forever.
What did the disciples think when they looked up and saw Jesus hanging on the cross? Most of them probably kept their distance, but John brought Jesus’s mother forward, and they heard Jesus tell John to take care of her. That was a moment that determined John and Mary’s future from then on.
Then there was the moment Christ just suddenly appeared in the room with the disciples after the resurrection. There was the moment when Thomas realized who He was and fell on his face saying, “My Lord and my God!”
Moments demand our time. Noting else matters. The reaction can be nostalgic; or exuberance; or sadness; or joy; or…sometimes nothing.
That painting will take you someplace you have never been before. That phrase in literature or the Bible will stay with you, possibly forever. That moment in music may bring tears of joy.
Then there are those incomparable moments when God seems especially near. Prayer, a passage in the Bible, or seeing a bright, full moon on a clear night when everyone has gone to bed, can trigger one. You can’t describe them…you don’t need to try. He has something for you that you may not recognize right away but will probably change you forever.
God wants us to have more of those quiet, trusting moments. He wants us to simply slow down and “be still and know…”
When these moments happen, we realize we don’t need any specific blessing; or specific favor from Him; or even a specific answer. We only need Him. Those moments are the most precious of all.
Thanks be to God.
