wake up and grab the moments

what is transient, what lasts

Daddy’s abrupt death near my 14th birthday

shook me, and still shakes me,

as if to make me wake up

and notice how transient the moments,

I have long feared to approach my death

and the accounting for my life that would flash before me,

I want to feel I’ve noticed, I’ve appreciated,

I have fully lived the moments given me,

and given of my soul to help those within my touch

come into the power and sureness

I believe that God wants,

and expects, from each of us,

I love the play Our Town,

for Thornton Wilder preaches to the choir in me

to wake up and grab the moments,

it’s a fine line

to feel power and rightness

without letting it make us lose our edge,

we need to reboot our systems

often enough so that we learn anew, every moment,

that each breath is a gift,

each moment a wonder,

that God can only manifest in the world

if we can forget the selfish within us

and let the selfless work God’s will upon the world.

by Henry H. Walker

December 3, ‘16