I was walking the dog late one night thinking about the events of the day. Overall, it was a sad day. I learned that a college classmate and fraternity brother passed away, too young from Parkinson Disease, the day got deep into some drama that I’d rather not explain, and I felt discouraged at work. Yet if I reflected deep enough there were some positives too. We are several steps closer to having the house renovations done, I can now use a mirror to shave, I ate a simple but beautiful dinner, and ended the day staring into a clear sky of stars with Orion, sword at his side, bow drawn and his dog, pursuing the seven sisters ready to battle the bull.
Happy, sad, achievement, disappointment, gain, loss – our lives are a collection of “nows.” A collection of moments. A collection of choices, failures, successes, ups, and downs. Each one a piece of a bigger picture, like a mosaic, an image comprised of thousands of smaller colored tiles.
Life is a mosaic of moments. Our entire life happens in the moment and every ‘present moment’ is life itself. How we live each moment, what words we speak, what actions we take, how we relate to those we encounter is the whole of our lives.
“The challenge is in the moment; time is always now.”- James Baldwin
My favorite band, Needtobreathe, has a song that Carrie Underwood accompanies called, “I Wanna Remember.’ The song is about catching moments as special, rather than them becoming fleeting. The moments, “moving by so fast” are simple – the feel of your body on my fingertips, the moonlight on fire, and the clothes we’re in. The need to have these moments strike a chord.
My mosaic includes sudden moments of significance like hearing the news of my dad’s death, seeing the events of 9/11 live on tv, opening the letter congratulating me on my induction into Lafayette College’s Hall of Fame, sitting at the kitchen table listening on a transistor radio to Franco Harris and the Immaculate reception. Yes, I might be the only person in Pittsburgh who doesn’t claim they were part of the 65,000 at the game.
Our mosaics will include moments we know are coming like a wedding, childbirth, first time driving a car, or possibly a first kiss. They will include unplanned moments that catch us off-guard like a surprise birthday party or running into a celebrity in the elevator.
There are moments that seize us and those we must seize intentionally. If we are not intentional, the smaller and maybe more mundane moments will slide right on by and be a tile that does not get added to the mosaic. We must appreciate the quiet moments, the hoot of a barn owl in the distance or the warmth of the sun. Moments of service, friendship, and especially love.
There are also “poor” moments. Even though the moment might be something we are not proud of, it is part of who we are. Irregularities in a mosaic do not “spoil” it. Removing a tile leaves a gap, an incomplete picture. To the whole, each one matters. I read where mosaics are made from broken pieces. I disagree, the pieces are not broken, what the pieces came from is broken. These moments in our lives are not broken, but our lives are. We are not perfect, we have flaws, we are sinners. In other words, “we have fallen” and when an object falls it often breaks.
In Mark’s Gospel, 1:14-15, we get a concise summary of Jesus’ preaching, life, and ministry. The message Jesus announces is that “This is the time of fulfillment.” Mark uses the Greek word Kairos for time and not Chronos. That intentional use means Jesus is not thinking about the movement of time to this point, but rather he is speaking in terms of the appointed time, in this moment. Jesus is calling us to seek and search for God with each breath we take and with each moment that passes. Always living with an emphasis on being in the present, the now.
God’s plan for our lives is less like a roadmap and more like a mosaic. The process of taking unrelated fragments and assembling them in a recognizable pattern. It puts them together to reveal something only in the mind and the heart of the artist. Or Creator. God asks us to recreate His picture from the pieces.
God calls on us to make the most of our moments, to use our gifts in the best possible ways, and to see everything as beautiful moments of His grace. Over time, these moments come together as a beautiful mosaic. No outliers. No random pieces. Everything intentionally put together in a way that we could never see, but He always does.
