What can One Person Do?

I have just finished the book, “Holy Moments”, by Matthew Kelly.  This was a very good, insightful, and yet a short book about finding moments in our lives and turning them holy.  What is a Holy moment?  It is when a person is able to see God through a particular instance.  This could be because of another’s kindness or generosity or through the everyday acts 

Matthew Kelly describes a Holy moment as, “A Holy Moment is a single moment in which you open yourself to God.  You make yourself available to Him.  You set aside personal preference and self-interest, and for one moment you do what you prayerfully believe God is calling you to do.” (Kelly, Matthew “Holy Moments: A Handbook for the Rest of Your Life pg.23).  This is truly beautiful and incredibly simple.  God has a plan for our lives, even in our everyday lives.  We need to be aware of what God has in store for us on a regular basis. 

I think in the day and age we are currently in, it can be very easy to start to believe we can’t do anything.  There is so much wrong with the world, so we can truly believe there isn’t a lot one person can do.  We can look around and see all the hurt, all the lies, all the discouragement, and we can just start to think that no matter what, nothing we do is going to matter.  This book tries to take away all those thoughts.  He tries to remind us through our everyday life, we can showcase holy moments which can make a difference in a few different lives and this will ultimately start to change the world, especially if people pass these holy moments on.

I do think it is really important to make sure we don’t think we can do this all on our own merit.  When we start thinking about how we can see everyone, we will hopefully be led to the Holy moments to pursue by the Holy Spirit. Through prayer with the Holy Spirit, we can start to see more and more people and how we can be a blessing in their lives. This could be looking at the person you are next in line with at the grocery store and choosing to help them out if needed.  This could be leaving an extra big tip with a nice note for a server because of their job well done.  This could be offering water or Gatorade for the post man or delivery guys.  (As a daughter of a UPS driver, I do know this is much appreciated, especially on a hot day.)

Yesterday, I lived an example of something I don’t want to do.  This is where I realized I need to be more aware of the people around me.  I was in an elevator because I was helping out my mentee and her family set up for her birthday party.  I was a bit distracted.  I was trying really hard to be helpful and I was thinking through everything needed to be done for the party.  However, I didn’t notice I was completely blocking the numbers on the elevator, and I didn’t ask the woman in the elevator with me what number she needed.  I didn’t notice till I got out of the elevator and she started walking towards the numbers. It was completely rude, and I feel bad I wasn’t more aware.   It is something I want to continue to focus on.  

There are so many verses focused on love in the Bible.  It is a part of the first two commandments in the Old Testament.  There is a whole chapter in the Bible focused on what love is.  One of those verses discussing love is John 13: 34-35 which says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  I love this verse because it showcases how we are called to love one another, so we can show who Christ is to those who are around us.  

It can be hard to do this on a regular basis.  Just like my example, we can get into our own heads.  We can start to overthink.  There are also times we can be impatient such as with those who are in front of us in line because we really want to get closer to the top of the line.  We also will sometimes be overly shy.  We may not want to rock the boat or offend someone by saying something wrong.  However, when we get over these fears or distractions and let God lead us, we can really create some great Holy moments. 

The challenge for this week is to spend time thinking about how we can find a few holy moments in our lives.  This could be from anything.  This could be choosing to be generous with our money and with our time to really help out another person.  This could be spending time making a meal for a big family who had some recent hardship.  This could be spending time making and writing in a card to send to someone at random.  This could be helping out a coworker while at work when time allows. 

I really want to do better at sending cards and gifts to missionaries at my church.  I know they do a great job spreading the Gospel.  I also know they need encouragement and to know people back home are praying for them.  This is something I want to provide to them.  I hope you will find a few Holy moments this next week!