Embrace the Moment, Life is Transitory

The trees have been empty and bare for quite some time. The once vibrant green leaves gave way, turned dark and fell to the ground ages ago. Now, the woods behind the house are bare, lonely and still. That said, the snow finally did start to melt, and I no longer have to push cars out of my driveway, so there’s that (yeah, that happened… more than once ?‍♂️). And on the side of springtime hope, I think I may have heard a bird chirp on some of our warmer mornings lately… you know those 40ish degree days. ?

But still, I’m sure you’ll agree with me, it’s been a long winter. 

I’m ready for some new life. How about you?

All of this got me thinking this morning. 

This same seasonal cycle exists everywhere in life – and in every aspect of our own lives. 

Life is transitory. And we need to not miss that.

It’s Transient. Transitional. Everything Passes. Everything Changes. 

The joy and the sadness. The winter and the spring. It’s a cycle. The tides of time.

This is nature. An inescapable fact. As true in your life as it is in mine.

Not so sure? Look around you. Look across time. Look at your trees, the flowers, the grass, the animals, your likes, your dislikes, your habits, your friends, your feelings. Consider them over time. Transient in nature. Passing in periods. Emphasized in eras. 

We often forget about the temporal nature of life. It’s easy to take our health, family, friends or job for granted. Then it changes. Once something or someone is taken away from us, we’re jolted back into reality and either truly appreciate what we once had, or we are thankful (if it was a tough period) that it’s gone. 

That’s right, pain and suffering are transient too. 

But we find ourselves much too often fighting against life’s impermanence. 

What we don’t have, we want. Or we try so hard to hang on too tightly to what we do have. We resist the flow, the change. 

We clutch onto people, riches, positions, and power, craving for everything to stay the same. Or, we fight against what is happening now trying to reach for something else.  All the while that very thing we’re resisting is changing our future without our input because we’re resisting or ignoring it, just trying to get through it. And so, it does its thing.

There is of course another way: we can accept, appreciate and embrace the flow of life. 

We can embrace the here and now and know that time is short. This may, in fact, be it. 

We can remind ourselves that everything changes. We can feel the flow. Hear the Whisper. Embrace the moment for what it is and join in. We can embrace today and ride the tides of time. It is, after all, bigger than us. It’s nature, it’s natural, it’s the very breath of creation working things out. It’s seasonal and seasons doing their thing. And there is freedom in knowing that and freedom if you embrace it. Surrender to it.

Let’s try to see the world today with a fresh set of springtime eyes. Notice the flowing nature of life. Have an open-handed plan. Hold your current experience a little more lightly, whether pleasurable or unsettling and see what unfolds. 

Time is short. Life is Transitory. Spring is coming. Maybe it’s here. 

Let Go and Let’s Go.