Moments turn into Memories

This week I am taking a pause from the series on a person of character. I will return to that series next week.

But this week I have a reminder for you, based on a recent experience that I had.

I recently took my daughter out hunting. I normally do this in the earlier part of the hunting season, while the weather is warmer, and much more tolerable for a child. We arrived at the location where we were hunting. We walked to the location, where we would settle in and wait for deer. As we waited, we watched the birds flying around. We watched the squirrels running through the leaves. We watched geese flying overhead.

While we continued to wait, whispering, I explained different things to her. Things like wind direction, up-wind and down-wind. I explained the reason that hunters wear camo. I explained sunrise and sunset, and the idea of shooting light (hunters will know what I mean by that). We were having a really good time as a dad and daughter, while we continued to wait.

Then I had a thought. Take a picture! These moments need to be captured! The experience that we were having, needed to be remembered! I leaned over and whispered, “Hey, let’s take a picture.’ She smiled and said “yeah.” I pulled out my phone and took our picture. Smile on her face and look in her eyes were genuine happiness!

Finally, our waiting was rewarded. We saw several deer begin to come out of the woods and into the field. We looked through our binoculars with excitement. Though we never got to actually have an opportunity to take a deer that night, our time together was complete. It was a moment of pure relationship. Time to just be together and enjoy the time we had together. No distractions. Just us. I will forever cherish moments like these.

As the holidays arrive shortly, keep this in mind! The moments that you have with others will quickly turn into memories. The business and chaos will certainly be distracting. But, even in the moments of business and chaos, remember the importance of interacting and being in the moment with those that you love.

Learn to recognize when special moments are happening. Learn to remove or minimize things that can steal special moments, like your phone, social media, other things that are meaningless, that steal precious time and experiences.

Moments turn to memories, and memories are gifts that you leave others, when you are no longer around.