When is the best time of your life?My kids love the ride at every amusement park that allows them to be the “driver”. When they can sit in cars they maneuver, steer the wheel, push the gas and crash into someone else. At the end, at some parks, my children even receive a license for driving. And their reaction is always the same, “I can’t wait until I grow up!” And my internal reaction is always the same, “You want to grow older and every adult…we just try to find ways to grow…younger.”Meaning, children desire later bedtimes and curfews, push boundaries and limits, and crave the ability to reach an age when they are in charge. Adults desire earlier bedtimes and crave to find a magic “cure-all” that allows age to vanish and childhood memories seep back into daily experiences.If children always wish to be older and adults always wish to be younger…when can we name, the best time of our lives? And even if we can identify the best “time”, were we able to appreciate those moments when they were taking place?Does always hoping for something else mask the potential of the everyday?Kohelet reminds us, “A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven.” The verses continue, elucidating that there is a time to cry, to laugh, to wail, to dance, to seek, and to keep.
Perhaps we should imagine that there is also a time to hold still. To pause and cherish the here and now. Whether the present moment is filled with anguish or sheer joy, to linger and recognize the power of the moment. Not wishing away a day or an age; rather, holding still and realizing the gifts you presently have to offer the world.
