Moments...

Life is made up of moments.  Moments that take your breath away, moments that leave you frustrated and confused, moments that can change your life in a blink of an eye, and moments that change you into an entirely different person.  So than why is it that most of the time we fail to recognize a moment as it is happening?  It only occurs to us as we are floundering in the wake of a moment, that something has happened to us, something has shifted the world a little to the right, and is causing us to reassess and reconfirm all that we think we know and think we need.

Every time you turn around these days, there is a report on the news of a devastating tragedy.  It causes you to stop and take notice of the world around you for a brief moment in time, but it's not your tragedy, so you tuck the horror and grief away and move on with your world, because the reality is, it didn't happen to you and you are knee deep in your own life treading water.  In the back of your mind though, you hear the echo of a thought: How long before it could happen to you?  You try to ignore it but this much is certain...you know all things in life are a possibility and maybe you could be doing more to help others around you.

A moment is all someone needs to know you care; that you love them, and that their place in this world is being acknowledge and validated.  A hug, a kind word, a smile, taking the time to actually listen to what someone is saying to you...all these things can turn someone’s bad moment into a great one.

This weekend, I experienced a moment, and I had the clarity to realize, as it was happening, that this was a big deal.  I turned 30, gasp!  I spent the entire weekend surrounded by people I love, people that love me, and I knew in that moment that I was the luckiest girl in the world.  I have this amazing group of people around me that want nothing more than for me to be completely and utterly happy and they would move mountains to make it happen.  What did I do to deserve such wonderful people in my life?  I will never know for sure but I will forever be grateful.  What I do know is that I cannot take it for granted, I need to take the time to show my gratitude, love, and support to my family and my friends because these are the moments that I will remember and that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Moments, good or bad, define whom we are solely on how we chose to approach them, deal with them, accept them, and help someone through them.  What will you chose to do with your moments?  How will you help others get through their moments?

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King Jr.