A Precious Moment
A friend of mine had twins a little over a year ago.
In honor of their first birthday, she posted a picture of her holding the twins immediately after delivery. This picture depicts so many things. It shows the joy, the relief of healthy, safe babies in her arms, it shows reaching the finish line of a long pregnancy journey…and so much more. I saw this picture and was flooded with God’s grace and goodness. It takes me back to that precious moment meeting my boys, and so many other memories throughout my life. It stopped me in my tracks and made me reflect on the past and all the sweet moments I have to look forward to.
These moments are the core memories we come back to often in our minds. They fill our lives with joy and contentment and are ultimately what we live every day for. These moments are just as I described them…precious.
When I think of “precious moments,” I’ll be honest that my first thought is the porcelain figurines with the “teardrop” eyes that adorned my bedroom and Christmas tree growing up. These figures were created back in 1975 by Samuel J. Butcher and were very popular around the time my sister and I were born. They were made to convey the message of God’s love and symbolize these “precious moments” in life as keepsakes for all occasions.
My parents started a tradition with us from a very young age of collecting ornaments for our Christmas tree, and the Precious Moments ornaments were some of our very first ones. We continued to build our collections with ornaments from trips and life events, and several of these ornaments I took with me when I got married. They now adorn my tree along with many new meaningful ornaments. Every Christmas, I love visiting my parent’s house and looking at these Precious Moments ornaments that stayed in their home, and marveling at how full their tree has become. I love looking at each one remembering our family vacations, important milestones, and happy memories that are symbolized by each glistening token. I see my tree slowly filling as we continue the tradition with our family.
It fills somewhat odd talking about Christmas in July, but it truly is a perfect example of a collection of soul-filling memories. Looking at the Christmas Tree I see so much more than just a tree filled with sparkly souvenirs. I see precious moments that tell the story of the lives lived in each house. I see love, I see joy, but most importantly God. I see a symbol of Christ, a light in the dark as its glow warms the living room. When I look at it I see how far he has carried me and the blessings he has bestowed on my life. It drives home the scripture from James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
I believe God provides us with precious moments to remind us that he is near. He gives us those times in life to hold on to and feel his presence so that when the hard times come we can fall back on our faith. He is constant, never changing, and always there even when the world tries to tell us otherwise. Although the Christmas tree is a great physical example of life’s precious moments, we can’t keep it up all year long (although maybe this is a sign we should??). It is important to take time daily to remember our blessings and let precious moments fill our minds. There is so much negativity in the world fighting for our attention, and maybe if we can be mindful of when our thoughts start to wander into those negative thoughts, we can fill them with these sweet memories instead. Almost as if we are building an imaginary Christmas tree that can stay in our minds all year.
Hold on to those precious moments. Let them remind you that God is near, that he loves to bless and provide for those that follow him, and that you have a lot more precious moments to look forward to.
P.S. I’m savoring summer, but this makes me excited for Christmas :)
