The Precious Gift

Today as I stood in line waiting on my turn to place a food order, the guy behind the register hollered out, "I will help the next person!"  The girl in front of me who was next simply stood there with her eyes glued to her smart phone.  Apparently, her ears were closed, too.  With no one moving, the clerk hollered one more time and once again it ended in the same results.  It was time for someone to speak so I reached out and told the young lady it was time to move.  And with the nudge, she went.  I became sort of a folk hero to all the other gray haired folks behind me who thanked me and then softly muttered something to themselves.

 

What I muttered was, "You need to pay attention to where you and who is in front of you."  I said it not so much for the girl with the smart phone because she had already moved and was under the spell of the young man behind the computer screen as I said it for me.  It is something I am constantly saying in some form or another to myself.  I told someone the other day that I knew I had memories of more years than I would ever have years in the future.  A seventy year old guy such as I am should  understand the importance of making the most of every day.

 

Such is what the Word tells us to do.  "Be careful then how you live...making the most of the time..."  (Ephesians 5:16)  A modern day rendering of this word might be, "Smell the roses...or the coffee."  Regardless of how you say it, it is a such a loss when any moment of experiencing the present moment with all that is a part of it is lost.  The present moment is the richest moment we have and whatever it is that is all around us is more precious than anything which might be viewed in the hand or longed for one day from the heart.  The present is God's precious gift to us.  It is a gift that is forever being given and, unfortunately, forever being wasted.