Wasted Moments

Interfaith Celebration Gathering

Wasted Moments

The Buddha spoke of living mindfully, being fully present in each and every moment we live. This sounds like such a simple thing to do, doesn’t it?

But many of us are so used to the head chatter that goes on inside our minds that we often do not notice it. We think about, fret about, or fear tomorrow. We relive our yesterdays hoping to resolve our feelings about them. We are rarely present in the moment in which we are living.

We need to learn to savor each moment, to wrest from it all the joy it can contain. We need to allow ourselves to experience sorrow and grieve when we are sad. We also need to learn to appreciate the beauty that lies all around us every moment of our lives.

We need to cry when we are deeply touched, or we are sorrowful. We need to laugh in delight when we feel joy, or we are amused. We need to allow ourselves to feel angry when anger is called for, as long as we do not punish others with our anger. We need to be thankful every moment of our lives for the things, people, and love God has sent us.

While we may speak of having an attitude of gratitude, how many of us really thank God for all the beauty that is around us? How many of us really take the time to enjoy what we have? Many of us are so busy thinking about or striving to get more that we fail to notice what we actually have.

Many of us also take our friends and family for granted. We need to realize that they do not have to be there for us – they have chosen to accompany us on our journey through Schoolhouse Earth. It is by choice that they have stayed by us, guided us, loved us, appreciated us, and let us lean on them. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

When we begin to live mindfully we become aware of what is happening with others as well as with ourselves in every moment. We become attuned to the God within ourselves and others, and we have no more wasted moments.

May the God of love add a blessing to these humble words.

AMEN