Significant Moments

I’m watching Field of Dreams because number one: I’ve always loved the movie and number two: Bryan also loved the movie. I wanted to channel Bryan somehow through it. I did.

“You know, we just don’t recognize the most significant moments of our lives while they’re happening. Back then I thought, well, there’ll be other days. I didn’t realize that was the only day.”

That was a quote from Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham when asked about the one half inning he played in the big game. Many times, we DON’T recognize those moments, but now that Bryan is gone, I’m paying attention. People want their lives to mean something, not realizing that their death is part of that whole package deal. Sometimes death triggers those significant moments. We always hear people say things like, “God has a plan” or “God works in mysterious ways”. Those phrases are thrown around so much that they have become cliché. But they’re very true.

Bryan accomplished so much in his life and the effects of those accomplishments weren’t always caught until he was gone. Even only two weeks after his death, I’m starting to see glimpses of the trickle-down effect of his accomplishments. I’m not talking about the obvious ones – missing him terribly, going through his things, doing paperwork. I’m talking about those little moments that are more easily missed – someone finding a note from him that has new meaning, someone else re-reading an old card with a Bible verse that gives them new insight, an old friend sharing a story about him that has renewed special meaning, connections that had long been severed for a variety of reasons are starting to be re-knit into something new.

We miss the ones who have gone before us terribly, but one of the best things we can do to honor their life and to give their life and their death meaning is to pay attention to those quiet, significant moments that happen, those singular little music notes playing in our lives. God DOES have a plan when things appear to go south and one of the greatest honors we have as humans is to have the privilege to be eyewitness to His plan and how it unfolds here on Earth well after our loved ones are gone. Pay attention and listen when those significant moments sneak into your life. Because that may be the only day you catch them.