Wonder

This morning started out very, very wet and stormy. Thunder and lightning and torrential rain accompanied people to work so they were huddled under umbrellas as they waited at the streetcar stop.

A little later it stopped pouring and there was a hint that the sun might actually exist. I was down by the lakeshore shortly after, walking along the boardwalk. There were almost no people there except for the odd dog-walker or jogger. 

As I started to walk I had to stop because what was before me was so beautiful as to be breathtaking. The sky was stormy and bright at the same time and the sun shimmered silver on the horizon. The wind was blowing so that huge waves were pounding the sandy shore and the rocky edges of the beach. It was for me, one of those moments that make you want to say 'Thank you!!! What an incredible gift'. And I did.

Then I found my self wanting to hold on to it; wanting it to last longer, even forever. I imagine most of us have felt that way sometimes too. But of course it disappeared - or at least it changed so that that special beauty disappeared. ( I was going to say that it became more ordinary but that is such an insult to the beauty of the ordinary.)

The reality of the fragile moment of beauty reminded me of how I always do want to hold on as the moment whizzes by before I may even know what I have seen or heard or experienced. Life itself whizzes by - not just the moments of beauty and so often you just want to say 'whoa!, hold it, I haven't had enough'.

I think all great religious thinkers have reminded us that the way to live is simply to live each moment; let it be, just be. Hard to do but I can see it is the best guide by which to live.