Moments come and moments go, much like this one will. Life is made up of an endless string of moments laid end to end. Most are quickly forgotten, and while some are given to us to choose what they will
Moments come and moments go, much like this one will. Life is made up of an endless string of moments laid end to end. Most are quickly forgotten, and while some are given to us to choose what they will be, most are what they are because we are in this life to experience them.
While many of them are enjoyed with friends and family, many others are spent with strangers. Some difficult moments, such as sitting in a dentist’s chair, cannot be gone soon enough.
Yet there are others, that despite the utter futility of the effort, we still seek to hold onto them as they fill our souls with peace and joy.
But there are other moments that come along that may mean little to us, both as we experience them, and when they have passed.
They are moments that we all share on a daily basis with the strangers that surround us. They are the chance meetings with our fellow travelers in this journey of life.
However, should we choose to actively look for them, we may use them to bless another, and then ourselves by default. To love another, especially a stranger, can be as simple as proffering a compliment to a tired mother working the checkout counter.
It can be a smile when none is offered first, or taking a few extra moments to genuinely listen for the answer to your question, “How are you today?”
Every soul that walks the Earth, no matter how loved by someone, is a stranger to others. We pass each other in our streets and stores, we speak on the phone with far away voices that mean little to us. We even see strangers sitting in the pews of our own churches.
It takes some effort to teach ourselves to reach out to others when we are busy, to offer kindness when our first instinct is irritation, or to smile when our own heart is hurting.
But we have been commanded to love all, or in another word, to serve all and to be a light to the world. That light, when used to lift another’s spirits, lifts our own as well.
As King Benjamin so eloquently taught, “behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” What a wonderful world we would then enjoy!
• Craig Lindquist is a Lihue business owner and regular contributor to The Garden Island.
