It’s been a moment or two since we met here. My moments have not easily shared with the computer lately, but today I am prompted by how quickly time alters the very ground we walk on. Your shaky ground may be as simple as waiting in line with the cramps and a crying baby. Or, it may be of the magnitude that leaves your life never the same. Whatever the moment holds, remember it will change, and with all the good moments to help, you will survive. I read in a book by Martha W. Hickman, (and I wish I could find the exact quotation) that the interruptions into what we thought was our life, are not interruptions at all, but are indeed our life. The moments, all of them, become the life we are living, and how we survive them, is most likely, who we are.

You know, the moments we live, can drag on like cold molasses, or they can vanish, literally in a breath. One example is that as I write, my daughter is awaiting twice-delayed departure times from an airport (slow moments); then suddenly the plane that was late arrived, boarded, and in the blink of an eye she will be hundreds of miles away (fast moments). These moments come and go quickly, even if we are waiting impatiently in a very long line; and breath by breath, we are passing them one by one. Moments, and the people who live them, are what tickle my writer’s yen. Because every one of them matter, we do well to take notice of not only how we are using them, but also, how the world around us is faring through their moments. We both know some moments are mere inconveniences, while others have grabbed you by the shoulders and spun you around and you may still be spinning. Either way, they are your moments, and they are important. Today, I’m just focused on our surviving them. One thing about moments I have noticed, is that they are always shared. Because I believe in the eternal all-knowing God of the universe, I know our moments are not alone.

All spring I have been concerned about the drought; crops, water levels, and trees with too little water in the soil. Now, as we are in our — what, third or fourth day of rain this week — should I worry about them all sliding downhill, or toppling over with soggy roots and heavy tops? Nothing stays the same. But this time, I wasn’t worried. After fifty plus years of farming, we learned to enjoy the good, and wait a moment, for God will take care of us through the bad.

I met a new organism last week; one I do not care to ever encounter again, because apparently rhinovirus enjoys hanging around and creating havoc, but my body does not share the enthusiasm. I have formed all sorts of immune responses along with medical community assistance, but one lobe of a lung is still harboring resentment. A whole week of moments, gone — and like my lung — I resent it. This is life however, and I’ll take it, even with the bugs. And the prednisone and rest — wow, I had forgotten how good it could feel to walk without pain.

Pain — What a multilayered word! In a moment last weekend, a young wife and four children lost their hero. I did not know him personally, but the wife grew up with my daughter, and these are good people. How can we be going about our routine, and suddenly find ourselves scrambling for our footing and gasping for breath? In a moment. So much changes so quickly. My heart hurts for that family and I pray for their strength, and the courage to keep walking moment by moment into their changed future.

More recently, my daddy’s brother passed away this week. At 84 years old, he lived a full, busy, satisfying life; seeing his son grow up to care for him and his own family, and having an adoring wife and many relatives who care deeply for him. Uncle Glenn had a work ethic that escapes most of our generation and those who follow ours. He has had what most would call more than his fair share of suffering, but he would not complain for long. Instead, he would be right back out in the cow pasture, or the garden (gardens quite large enough to feed a community), or pulling something around somewhere with a tractor. And this was just in retirement. Before retirement, he was a dedicated employee and manager in a physically strenuous job, and still did all these other things, filling his moments completely and, in my opinion, not wasting a one. He took many years of moments on and off, to go to his happy place in Calico Rock, Arkansas. There he was able to share moments of fishing and nature with friends and family. I would love to have seen him in that surrounding, but it was not to be in the moments for me. I’m happy to know he got to do what he loved to do, fill so many moments with positive energy, and enjoy telling about it.

We have to wonder why; why are some lives made of many moments and others so few. We wonder why — and it is natural to wonder because God gave us the ability to do so — why do the moments for some last only two years, but for others, 84 and more. You won’t hear me say things like, “God took good old aunt Flossie…” because I know God is not a taker. While Job said “the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh”, for me this was his euphemism for life ain’t always grand folks so watch who you’re pointing at. And Job said it first — the Lord gives. How can we blame a being Who gave us the amazing people in our lives in the first place, knowing all our moments will finally run out someday. The same God who put in all the wonderful, is present with us through our awful, loving, tragic, exciting, depressing, ecstatic and dull moments in life, and gave us all kinds of people to live them with us. He promises strength for our fallen times; encouragement for our depressing times; and life-long moments of love and memories and people, to bind up our broken hearts. Recall Isaiah’s promise from God; not that God would spare His people from waters, rivers, fire and flame, but that He would walk us through it all. (Isaiah 43:2)

God does allow us all kinds of wonderful, from watching a day awaken in blazing sunrise, to watching our aged loved ones in peace, at last, close their eyes. There is no denying He allows us to live through some terrible things brought on by the very real demon of this world, but — oh my friend! Never forget, God is the arm holding you up when you don’t know how. He is the bird’s morning call singing you survived. He is the friend’s flowers, the parents’ touch, the young child’s laughter, and the sunrise and sunset you will experience again, in your moments He has granted you. His grace will sustain your moments until, as His child, you will have the never-ending moments of eternity where all mysteries are known, and you get to live with the love of all love, bigger than all the bad moments we could ever know.

Please be assured, I am not at all making small of big problems. Since the world began, there has been disaster at all levels. I only want to share that God is bigger than all the disasters, all problems, all disappointments. He is the fixing of the problems; He is the coming together of solutions; and He is the giver of all life and the moments within.

Love, Trisha