Profundity and Fireworks

Today I spent the 4th of July with two of my best friends, Steven and Shaun Sandler. We went out in the streets and lit off more fireworks than I ever thought possible for one group of people to even own. During one crazy session of time in which Steven and I set off a large round of “fountain” fireworks, someone called out to Steven, “Steven, why are you setting them all off at the same time? Why don’t you do them separately?” Steven replied “The bigger the moment the better.” Then he turned to me with this goofy look on his face and said “Hey, that applies to fireworks AND life!”

It reminded me of a concept that I have been thinking about more than usual lately: living in the moment.  Jon Foreman says “The past cannot be changed and we do not know what tomorrow holds, so why worry about anything at all? If we do not live for right now, we are not alive.” Life is about living for the moment – the moment is what matters. Steven unwittingly made an extremely profound statement about life, and a second later, realized his ingenuity: “The bigger the moment the better.”

So often I know I spend large amounts of time worrying about school, college, work, and my life that is ahead of me. Or I waste other precious moments regretting the past – whether it be the mistakes I’ve made, relationships poorly handled, or any other unmentionables. How often this is nothing but a waste of another precious second I could be spending enjoying the now.

This concept of living in the now, and thus being truly alive, is even supported by the Bible, from the words of Christ himself:  ”So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” — Matthew 6:34, NAS. How empowering it is, in my mind, to realize that life CAN be so much more full and joyful through the simple application of this philosophy. It brings hope to my heart in more ways than one.

Going back to the image of fireworks, though – is it necessary for every minute to be filled with fireworks? Some might say that’s an unrealistic goal to have about life. However, I imagine that perhaps that IS necessary for life. No matter where you are, no matter what you’re doing, no matter who you’re with – if you’re living for the now and nothing else, shouldn’t that be enough? And if it is – is it as beautiful of a life as a multitude of fireworks? Is it the biggest moment you could possibly have?

In the Pixar movie Wall-E that came out last year, the Captain of the ship Axiom says a line at one point in the movie that has continually stuck in my brain: “I don’t want to survive, I want to LIVE.” Are we living the biggest moments we can experience, every moment, every day? If not, perhaps we’re not living, like we thought we were. Perhaps we are only surviving, and nothing more. Does God call us to only survive? I believe he wants more than that from us: he wants us to wake up, to stop walking as dead men – and to LIVE.

~ by Jarred Kamin on July 5, 2009.