Defining Moments

A few years ago, during the return flight from Bogotá, they showed the movie “A Lot Like Love.” While watching, I realized something about movies that span several years of a character’s life. They only show the highlights of someone’s life.  Of course, this is done in the interest of time and to keep the audience's attention.  

Maybe this is one of the reasons that we wish for so much out of our lives and we can lose patience with our present circumstances.  In TV and movies, whole lives grow and situations are resolved in thirty minutes to two hours.  Moments are defined before our eyes.  We see progression.  We anticipate resolution. 

However, real life doesn’t work like that.  Our circumstances drag on.  We are left with a hole in our hearts when love is lost or dies.  We lose more battles than we care to mention.  Still, when we live with purpose, when we prepare and work toward our goals, we will begin to recognize our defining moments. 

Defining moments begin small and unseen by others and sometimes even we don’t notice them.  Often, these are times of self denial rather than self indulgence.  They are the occasions when we work to make an improvement rather than waste away in front of the TV. 

We have many occasions that prepare us for the shot, if they made a movie about our lives, that would appear on the big screen.  These times can be compared to an athlete who trains day after day preparing for each race.  Then the day of qualifying comes. Was the preparation enough?  Was this person serious or just playing with it?  Race day proves who was working and who was playing. 

If you go to a track meet, you can see the ones who are working.  Even when their effort isn’t enough, they build on each loss.  They build character.  They grow resilience.  Each race stokes the fire of their passion.  

Every day is filled with defining moments whether we see them or not.  There are many times in every day of our lives that define us.  The question is this:  What kind of life are you defining?  Will the movie about your life show you working toward having a life that will inspire others?  Each time we do the right thing when it is a small thing prepares us for the day when we will be called to do the right thing when it is big.  We will be ready when the time comes.  These are the moments for which movies are made.