Track 18: You will never be in this moment again
You will never be in this moment again.
These are words I find myself pausing and speaking in my mind, aloud to myself, or even in encouragement to Lou when times get crazy.
It’s been a long time since our last “track.” It feels like we just keep asking “where does the time go??” from one post to another, almost one year apart. Here we are again. Since we shared in December 2021, we were blessed and privileged to see God’s sovereign hand create again as our family celebrated the pregnancy of our third child. So that takes up a fair amount of emotional and physical ammunition.
It’s been such an amazing nine months to center and focus our kids’ attention and imagination to seeing Jesus the Creator. We have committed to constantly redirecting beauty and brilliance to the One who birthed both. When we choose to not just give a passing glance at the amazing, or not even to yield a moment to a miracle, we run the risk of defaming our Amazing God in our hearts. Like in Malachi when the Lord talked about lighting useless fires on the Lord’s altar as foolish, abominable, half-hearted, careless worship that a Believer must discipline his heart to never offer. The same reckless complacency can take over our eyes and minds.
“Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.”
It’s not that the obvious is not right in front of us; Romans 1 tells us all of creation is the evidence of our God, and by the evidence we will be left without excuse. It is right in front of us, but the difference is do we just view it as “the way the world works” or embrace it whole heartedly as a “reason why we worship.”
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
When we stop and look at the sunset, or at a mountainous tree, a lion, or a waterfall to play in…we ask our kids: “Who made this?” They answer, “Jesus.” We’re so thankful for that faith, so thankful that it’s not just beauty for beauty’s sake, but that it’s a tangible reminder of the hand of God, of His mercy, His goodness, of His faithfulness. That God created!
A.W. Tozer said the four hardest words in the Bible are “In the beginning God.” If the heart can have faith in that, then it can and will have faith in ALL He does. It’s incredibly difficult, but we’re not commanded, called, or challenged to understand it, we are called to BELIEVE it.
Our kids looking at the stars and dirt and knowing that God has made both—that we are made from dust—have been blessed to have a front row seat to God’s astonishing brilliance. For what is hard to grasp about God forming a distant star and calling it by name, is contrasted with a miracle happening right in their house, not just inside their house, but inside their mom. That they can see with their eyes, the growth, the stretching stomach, the labored movements, the heightened senses… It becomes as tangible and as graspable as they will be able to see with their own eyes. The God who formed this baby from the dust is infinitely concerned with him. This baby is an image bearer of the God who created him! These kids put their hands on their mom’s tummy and felt that little life, kick and move, more and more each day.
What was once hidden behind the veil of flesh will soon be in front of their eyes. What a blessing they will see and hold, and touch and feel, and smell and hear this little testament of God’s creation. When God’s hand is so evident in your face and you stop yourself and realize how minuscule this moment is when overwhelmed by eternity—yet simultaneously a monstrous moment in its significance redirected to the eternal One.
That’s when I say it. When you realize that your kids are growing up faster than you thought possible, and you hold their hand or push them on the swing… and you stop and soak it all in, knowing you’ll never be in this moment again. Holding your new baby boy in your arms, knowing you’ll never be in this moment again. There may be some like it, maybe even many, BUT you’ll never be in THIS moment again.
When you and your wife are overwhelmed by one crying kid, one screaming kid, one laughing kid, inside of a tornado of toys and crumbs that have inundated your living quarters… even then, embrace it and know that you will never be in this moment again. Love it. Because there are so many moments that we will look back on if blessed with the peace of a deathbed and wish we would have savored and stilled and slowed. Not that we loved the world, but we loved the One who created the world—who filled the world with beautiful things; beautiful things meant to turn our hearts that overflow with thankfulness. To love the Blesser more than the blessing. We are created beings, living in created spaces, all created by One who is UNCREATED.
On September 22nd, we welcomed Levi Valla into our family, by God’s mercy and faithfulness, just as Daniel said there’s nothing we have done to deserve anything, but because of His mercy.
“O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.”
You will never be in this moment again, so let every moment be a sacrifice.
