2014, Moment by Moment

It’s that time of the year again, the last day of the year. A time for us to reflect, look back upon this past year of our lives and all it contained. The joys, the sorrows, the mishaps, the successes. The births and the deaths. It’s a time to reevaluate our lives. It’s also a time to look ahead and prepare for the next year.

Each passing year seems to go by faster, the older you get. I’m in my mid 30s and this past year went by like a blink of an eye. I recall the days back in the 1980s when time was a bit more still. Summers lasted, well, literally months. A day felt like a week while now a week feels like a day. Time just seems to pass by more swiftly as we get older and have more responsibilities.

There is a spiritual classic out there written by Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God. It’s widely known, enjoyed by both Catholic and Protestant Christians. Brother Lawrence shares with us the much needed practice of the present moment and finding God there. With our Tweeting, Facebooking, Snapchatting way of life, our distractions have caused us to become less connected, less attuned to, well, life.

Life is about living. Truly experiencing. When was the last time your felt truly alive while scrolling through your FB feed or playing a video game?

Think about the moments this past year when you did feel truly alive.

• offering advice to a friend through a much needed phone call
• in the chapel, alone with Jesus in the Eucharist
• holding the hand of my dying cousin
• my fiancé whispering in my ear that he loves me
• catching a sunrise on Lake Superior
• laughing until it hurt with my Aunt and nieces at the sledding hill
• hearing my father tell me ‘thank you’ for something I did for him years ago
• sharing my faith with my college students during a Scripture discussion

The list can go on. Write your own list. What does it contain? What made you feel alive this past year? Were you present to that moment? Did you meet God there?

Whatever this past year has brought you and whatever this next year brings, just remember that you are not alone in it. Find yourself in the present moment. Practice the present moment. Find Jesus there. Find peace there. Put away the distractions, spend time with our Lord and learn to find Jesus and peace in the other person in the room with you, whether it be your co-worker, the clerk at the store, your 2-year-old child, your dying grandmother. Be with them in the moment and not only will you create moments that will last a bit longer than a blink of an eye, you will find the presence of God.