Living in the Meantime

A few years ago my Pastor preached one of those sermons that haunts you ever after.  He called it "Living in the Meantime" and spoke of how we focus our lives on achieving goals, anticipating always the next milestone, assuming that life's highs and our best memories will accompany these events.

Yet life itself belies this, for as we look back we discover that the best of the best inevitably happened when there was no camera to capture the moment other than the one in our mind's eye; there was no celebration but the one in our heart, and the truly special moments of our lives inevitably happen in-between-times, when we are simply living the day-to-day life.  Life happens in the meantime. The following item also has this theme...  

We convince ourselves life will be better after we get married, have  a baby, then another.  Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't  old enough and we'll be more content when they are.  After that we're  frustrated we have teenagers to deal with.  We will certainly be  happy when they are out of that stage.  We tell ourselves that our  life will be complete when our spouse get his or her act together,  when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we  retire. 

The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right  now.   If not now, when?  Your life will always be filled with challenges.  It's best to admit  this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.  One of my favorite  quotes comes from Alfred D. Souza.  He said, "For a long time it had  seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life.  But there was  always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through  first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to  be paid.  Then life would begin.  At last it dawned on me that these  obstacles WERE my life."  This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness.  

Happiness IS the way.  So, treasure every moment that you have.  And  treasure it more because you share it with someone special, special  enough to spend your time with...and remember that waits for no one.  So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school,  until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have  kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until  you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until  Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home,  until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until  fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or the  fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until  you've sobered up, until you die, until you are born again to decide  there is no better time than right now to be happy.  Happiness is a  journey, not a destination.  Work like you don't need money  Love like you've never been hurt  Dance like no one's watching Faith makes things possible, not easy. It's not how you look; it's how you see