Stay This Moment, Pt. 4: Seeing God in the Moments of our Lives

Stony Man mountain stands majestically in the distance, second only to Hawksbill in height in Shenandoah National Park. The warm sunset light bathes the landscape with a reddish glow as clouds cross the sky. Moments like these last for such a short while. Before you know it, the light is gone and the land sits in silent darkness awaiting the coming dawn.

As I sit here in the doctor's office it's hard not to have a mixture of emotions. This isn't the time or place to go into any real details other than to say that my mom has a very serious appointment today. If you feel led to prayer of course, that is always welcome, but this isn't a post to draw unnecessary attention to them.

It's a strange culmination, as I have wanted to write this post for some time, but it seems the events of the week have become the catalyst for it coming to realization.

Being single has its pros and cons to be sure, and this is not a post on singleness versus marriage. Only to say, I have been able to spend more time with my parents than probably many people my age because of it.

We've actually gone up into Shenandoah national park many times as a family, even me as an adult. The other night was one such evening.

Hiking down from this scene I was thinking and praying about this very fact, that I am incredibly thankful to have these times with my parents. I know many people for one reason or another, don't have those moments.

With this appointment, as well as simply the age of my parents, and many other factors, it can be easy to think on the fleeting nature of life. The way the week has gone, seems as if this is the most fitting time to write this post.

The older I get, the more road behind me, the more I'm able to see the mistakes, the wins, the people that God has blessed me with. The more I realize (and in my humanity fail to realize) the need to be in the moment.

In previous posts in this series I spoke on moments in our past, the short lived nature of life, and our future hope. In this I want to just touch on the very real fact that we are to live in the moment.

I've said many times this year that I can't really do much about the future, but I can take the very next step. What has God shown for me to do next? That's my immediate responsibility.

What responsibilities has He given me for today? What relationships has He given me to foster, people to encourage? What has He revealed about myself? Tough questions but warranted.

What questions like these can you ask of yourself?

I think heading to this location to photograph, I was really focused very much on that. I had scouted the scene before as you can read about here. I could tell the sky had potential. I wanted very much to get a shot. I wasn't really thinking about these deep things.

As quick as able I headed up to the top by myself. Me and my parents may drive together, but they tend to do their own thing, and I mine. Once at the top I wasted no time. I set up, looking for the spot I had scouted, and waited. It really did fall into place, and for that I'm incredibly grateful.

Sometimes we really do have to just show up. That's part of being in the moment sometimes. Other times however, we look deeper. Sometimes we have to recognize the difference between good and best.

Heading down, as I had already mentioned, my mind started to think on those deeper things. How many times had I been able to do these outings with my parents? Given the circumstances regarding their health, can I look back and see a lot of wasted time, or quality time with them? I'm not naive, I know the inevitable as time progresses. Have I been wise with what I've been given?

Of course the answers to those kinds of questions varies, even moment by moment. None of us can look back at our life and say we lived perfect, always choosing the best use of our time. But by God's grace, hopefully we can say that we have at least moments, periods of time, that were honoring to Him and to those people and things He has given us.

I can't say this post isn't emotional for me. It's been an emotional few weeks. Between relationships, things I've experienced, where God is at work in my life, I've reached a point where tears sometimes come easy.

I don't know the direction of my life, but I know the next step. Oh that I would be faithful.

I think it would be fitting to close out this series with looking at Ecclesiastes. If there is a book in Scripture that defines the use of our time, I would argue it is that one.

"The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgement, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil." - Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

There are of course numerous Scriptures that point to the shortness of life, the use of our time, the hope we have in Christ for our future as well as life now.

What a wonder it is that photography allows us to freeze a split second of time. A culmination of those moments all caught up in a single shot. A story of a thousand words frozen in time. That we could gaze into those photographs and relive the time. But we can't. No second returns to us, no minute redone, no hour revisited. Time is gone as quick as it comes. May God grant that we don't waste it.

The Psalmist asks of God in Psalm 90:12: "So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom."

In that very same chapter though is one of my favorite verses, that is verse 2: "Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."

And so we take hope, that though we are finite, He is infinite; we are here for but a brief moment, but He is eternal, and through Christ we will spend eternity with Him.

May we use the time He has given us here wisely, for His purposes and glory.

"Photography, alone of the arts, seems perfected to serve the desire humans have for a moment - this very moment - to stay." - Sam Abell