Treasuring the Moment

Friday I had the delight of having my grandsons spend the night with us.  It’s one of my favorite things!

In the morning, after spending time with The Lord, I started some writing. At the time everyone was asleep, but the youngest boy, barely awake, comes up and asks if he can snuggle.

How do I resist?

I don’t.

He sits quiet for a bit, in the curve of my arm.  But he is a restless, full-of-energy, rough-and-tumble kind of boy, and soon he’s fully awake and wanting to move.  Will I go outside with him?  Can he blow bubbles?

Again, how can I resist?

I don’t.

Soon I’m mesmerized as I watch the single-focused delight of a five year old, in pursuit of the biggest bubble.  This little guy doesn’t miss beauty.  He sees all the colors reflected on the delicate spheres–rainbows  swirling on the surface.  Grandma look!

As I watch his face, so full of wonder, I realize this is a moment outside of time…kairos time.

The ancient Greeks had two words for time.  First, the word for measuring time by seconds, minutes and hours, etc, is called Chronos.  The clock ticks relentlessly on, and we feel the push to hurry.  To accomplish.

Kairos is the second word that measures time.  Only instead of counting in precise mathematical  increments, this word refers to moments.  It’s about taking the time to slow down…to focus in on what is truly important.

Ann Voskamp is one of my favorite authors.  In her book, “One Thousand Gifts:  A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Live,”  she talks about the importance of being fully present, in order not to miss the moments that will add meaning and richness to our lives.  On page 68 she says:

“Time is a relentless river.  It rages on, a respecter of no one.  And this, this is the only way to slow time:  When I fully enter into the current moment with the weight of all my attention, I slow the torrent with the weight of me all here.  I can slow the torrent by being all here.  I only live the full life when I live fully in the moment…weigh down this moment in time with attention full, and the whole of time’s river slows, slows, slows.”

This weekend I got to practice “slowing down the river.”  As I begin my own list of one thousand gifts, it now includes, “sleepy grandson snuggling warm” and “watching as boy blows shiny bubbles, floating to the sky.”

Being a Grandma definitely has it’s benefits:)

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