Have you ever had an “aha moment?” An aha moment is defined as a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension. For different reasons what was unknown or even forgotten is recognized or remembered. There is a break in your line of thinking when the truth breaks in and you discover understanding. These aha moments are often life lessons that cause us to rethink things in our lives.
In the book of James in the New Testament, the writer has what you might consider an aha moment. In James 4: 14 we read, “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” James confesses about the brevity of life. Or as we might say in modern lingo, “time flies.” I know that as I age, time does seem to go by faster. I find myself often wondering, “where did the time go?”
In the third chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes, we read, “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die.” (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2) Birth and death are indeed the bookends of life and living is found between the two. In it is these daily moments of life that we share in many experiences. While at any given time we might not think much about a moment, we should seek to see the value in every moment. For as James reminds us, these collective moments in life are like a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Someone once said, “you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
Life is indeed short. This is why we should see each moment in life as a gift and not take any moment of time for granted. Times spent with the people we love can easily come to an end in the brevity of life, thus we must value each moment. As James states, “we do not know what tomorrow will bring.” All we have is the present moment. Hence, each moment gives us the opportunity to live in gratitude for that moment and the people, things, and places at that moment that give it meaning. Rudyard Kipling was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist who gave us The Jungle Book. Kipling once said, “This is a brief life, but in its brevity, it offers us some splendid moments, some meaningful adventures.”
We are only given one life. As people of faith, we must see each moment as a gift of God’s grace. Each moment gives us the opportunity to glorify God by the way we live. Each moment must be received in gratitude. Each moment of life is an “aha moment” to be celebrated with the people in your life that make life such a grand adventure. Right now is a good moment for all of us to thank God for this gift of life.
Conversations from the Couch 