written on Tuesday, May 25, 1999

In a moment, there are endless colors and shades of detail.  There are countless sounds, all unique and separate.  There are countless fragrances and smells all around, yet everything blends together into that single sight, that one glimpse of sound, that one perfect scent, and that harmony that is a single moment.

I've had many times in my life where there was that one moment that I could just live in.  Just walking back up to the house slowly, I paused to take it all in.  Sometimes it almost feels like a crime to just go on with life.  I mean, I keep running around, always so busy, but in that single moment, I feel like I'm missing something by trying to do so much.  I try to fix any problems and catch any loopholes so that I don't miss anything, but by that I end up missing something.

Many times I think that life is made up of events, but it's not.  Life is made up of moments.  Just a glance, an odd feeling from out of the blue that only lasts for a moment, that's what life's made of.  It's not just the sum of it's parts.  Life is more than anyone can ever realize.  I look at something and I want to absorb all the beauty that I see, just staring as long as I can, trying to hold onto that moment.

I remember several times when I'd be about to go somewhere or do something, and I'd just stop.  There was this time when I was walking back to the daycare alone after school and as soon as I saw the house, I stopped.  I couldn't move and I didn't move until I was found and forced back.  Everything stopped.  I guess something must have been "wrong" with me.  What was I supposed to be living for?  It was like they were all living just to live.

Sometimes big things happen, major events that change lives, but they all started as simple little moments.  The miracle that saves souls isn't in a long process of redemption, but in a single moment.  Over time, people's minds wander all over the place and things change, but God works in that moment.  Every moment is a miracle. In the tiny moment that the sunlight first hits the dew is every piece of life and all that makes it worth living.  Everything is in one moment.  Time is only the interaction of what's already contained within each and every moment.

I was afraid to realize the importance of a moment because I didn't want it to mean that I wouldn't consider the consequences of anything I do or that I would have nothing to look forward to.  Yet, I see that even what is yet to happen is contained within a single moment.  How I live now effects how I have lived and how I will live.  Entropy is the only thing that gives time a direction.  The moments I treasure are when I did nothing but observed.  Actions aren't contained within a moment.  Life is contained within a moment.  So many times, the world seems to be going too fast.  We need to slow down before it's too late.  In a moment is a quiet piece that we all need.  Treasure the moments because, really, that's all that life is...