JUST A MOMENT

Last month I took a tumble, with serious injuries that have taken weeks to heal.  One moment I was dashing out the church door on my way to a funeral visitation.  The next moment I was on my back waiting for the ambulance.  As I said to a friend, “What a difference a moment makes.”

In the traditional King James Version, Ephesians 5:16 says, in part: “redeeming the time.”  The Good News Bible puts it: “”Make good use of every opportunity you have.”  What the Greek literally says is: “purchase the moment.”  Every moment is rich with opportunity to choose what is good or what hurts.  And recovering from what hurts sometimes takes a long time! But each choice for the good is the beginning of a long upward path.

Indeed, the present moment is all we have. Kalidasa wrote, in “The Salutation of the Dawn”: Yesterday is but a dream And tomorrow is only a vision But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness And tomorrow a vision of hope.

And scripture says (Hebrews 3:15 RSV), Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

Rev. Dr. David Beebe

Evangelical United Church of Christ , Highland

Back          Top