PEBBLE
I choose to focus on making holy moments, not holy movies.
We create the moments, the movie gets made over time.
-Brooke Ray, written and shared by Brooke at Central Michigan University (with help from God!)
BOULDER
So stop waiting for Fridays, and stop waiting for summers, and stop waiting for someone to fall in love with you, because those things will happen. But in the meantime, enjoy right now.
-Lucy Sutcliffe, shared by Bethany from Wisconsin
PONDER
I had wonderful exchanges with both Brooke and Bethany about this week’s quotes. Brooke had recently read a book (The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity by Matthew Kelley) that focused on how we each have the power to spread love and improve the world by striving to create holy moments. She wrote, “Recently I was feeling overwhelmed by the amount of things I could/should be doing living on a college campus when I heard God whisper a reminder to ‘Make Holy Moments, Not Holy Movies!'”
Bethany shared with me that she had seen the Sutcliffe quote in a classroom recently and it reminded her just how much time she spends looking toward the future instead of living in the moment. “This quote inspires me to try to live every day as fully as I can, and let the good things come when they come,” she wrote. I’m in, Bethany. I. Am. In!
I don’t think you have to consider yourself a “God person” to recognize the sacred potential that each moment holds, and I also don’t think you have to force yourself to LIKE every single second of every single day of every single year of your life. That sounds exhausting!
Instead, I view the notion suggested by Brooke (& Matthew Kelley & God!) as an invitation to focus a bit more on the present while spending fewer moments lost in the past and future. And when we’re struggling, the quote Bethany shared can gently remind us to step back and identify the holy moments that are hidden even in the midst of the mundane blechiness that inevitably shows up in our lives.
Let’s experiment, shall we?
Peace,
Paul
The Ripples Guy
P.S. If you’re enjoying Ripples, remember that the best way to show it is to SHARE Ripples with your peeps and encourage them to join us, and also click the SUBMIT A QUOTE button below whenever you encounter a groovy quote that we should consider for an upcoming issue–maybe even something you’ve written? Thanks for both!