31 Days Creating Meaningful Moments – Being Present

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.”

                                                                            — Henry David Thoreau

Creating meaningful moments in our life is a combination of planning on our part and then space to see what happens. While we can and should be intentional, other people are involved, out of our control.

Yesterday I asked you to think about your meaningful moments. Last night I was thinking about the times in my life were meaningful. Here are a few:

* A birthday dinner with my family where everything just clicked, the conversation was fun, food delicious and beautiful pictures to capture the moments.
* The pure joy in a little boy’s face when I gave him his Christmas gift at a party for foster kids at my church.
* The moment my little said stood in her crib and said “pray” when I tucked her in one night.
* A magical dinner outside by twinkle lights in the Tuscan Countryside with a group of friends

To experience life to the fullest, allow God to work and for meaningful moments to transpire  we have to be present. It is hard to build relationships and meaningful moments when we are looking at our phones, texting, reading email, and googling.

I can  do all of the above with the best of them. Friday night I was out with a new group from church and resisted the urge. As I did it was interesting to see how dependent everyone has become. One person actually bowled while talking on the cell phone. Yes, you read that right bowled while talking.

As I am trying to slow down and build a life I am working on being fully present. Fully present when I spend time with God, when I am talking to my friends or spending time with family.

My friends jokingly call me the information guru but I am becoming painfully aware that technology has become an escape. I am learning to fight the urge to hide behind a text and put myself in places far outside my comfort zone so that I can build a more meaningful life.

What if we declared dining tables no technology zones?
What if we left our phones off during a meeting?

What would happen if we were fully present?

Today I invite you to ponder what keeps you from being fully present. Write down one thing you could do this week that would encourage you to be fully present and share in the comments.

I am writing this series as part of The Nester’s 31 Days. You can check out 800 other topics here.