Just A Moment

When we say “just a moment” do we ever consider what a moment really is? We say “just a moment” without thinking of what moments mean in our lives. Does a moment reflect a certain amount of time? Does a moment in time mean something different to each one of us? Is a moment a measurement of time – or it something else?

Can a moment really be measured as time at all? Or are moments more the fragile and intangible milestones in our journey through life? Our lives can change in just a moment. A child is born in a moment and we all will die in a moment. Great ideas flash in the minds of ordinary people in just a moment, yet those ideas born in a moment can change the world.

A madman can seize power and enslave an entire civilization and harm millions of lives in just a moment. A society can go from freedom to slavery – in just a moment.

A soldier battling bravely for his country one moment can die the next moment. And that one moment in in old brave soldier’s life changes the lives of many others: his family, friends and and all who knew him. Everything was changed in just a moment.

We fall in love, make life-changing decisions, make life-ruining mistakes, conceive a child, give birth, and die – in just a moment.

A moment of thoughtlessness can turn a friend away forever. A moment of bad judgment can ruin our lives forever – and the lives of those who love us.

A moment of anger can turn a loving person into an uncontrollable one filled with rage and hate.

Bad news arrives from far away and turns our laughter into tears — in just a moment.

We say “just a moment” without thinking or realizing just how important those moments may be. We sometimes trivialize moments, but in the course our lives moments make all the difference. The moments that take our breath away may never be as important as the moments that do not. For it is those unplanned moments, the ones that just happen without planning, that we remember most – our first kiss, that first soft, spring morning after a long harsh winter, the sound of a robin singing, the smell of the air after a summer thunderstorm, the bright smile of a child – all just everyday moments in our lives, but they may well be the moments we treasure most.

Then there are life changing moments like the birth of a child, a child’s first step, a child’s first word, or the last struggling breaths of a loved one as they leave this world behind. All of these are just moments but they are moments that make up our lives.

Someday our lives will end in just a moment.

In just a moment we can make or break a lifetime, hurt a friend, think a thought that sparks an idea that changes the world, or that ends a life. So, the next time you say “just a moment” remember how important a moment can be.

This moment or the next might be the most important moment of your life.