SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN [F, 10-25-24]

BEYOND WINTER: Irrelevant Musings of an Old Man--SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN [F, 10-25-24]

 

Granddaughter Brigid called. She does that while she walks. We’re always glad when she has to go to the post office.

She is a Renaissance woman. Among other things, she is semiologist, a specialist in Irish independence propaganda films, an executive for a national academic consortium, a gourmet cook, a quilter, a game player, a friend who is in lots of weddings, and a camper.

She wanted to go camping last weekend, but didn’t have enough time, so just went up Table Mountain [1], since she had never climbed it. She got tired and it got late, so she decided to cut the climb short. Later, she was disgusted when she learned that she had quit when she was only 500 feet from the summit. It was around a curve; she hadn’t been able to see how close she was to the top.

I said I was sorry that I am not still preaching.

She said, “Yes, it does appear to be a life lesson. [She sees right through me. She knew I wanted to use her story as a sermon illustration.] “But it was beginning to snow, and if I had waited, I’d have to go down the mountain in the snow. I got home okay, so maybe the life lesson is to quit when there is snow on the mountain.”

Well, fiddle; there goes a good sermon. Or maybe I have two, now!

Either way, it got me to thinking about staying in the moment, which is the life lesson we hear about all the time anymore. You gotta stay in the moment!

Well, yes. That’s good advice. When coaching the Chicago Bulls, Phil Jackson said, “Trust the moment.” I like that. Trust the moment, because it has everything you need.

Gunther Bornkamm said that was what Jesus did. The folks of his day were either fixated on the past—the glories of King David, etc—or anticipating the future—the Messiah will restore the Kingdom of Israel. Nobody got to live in the present. Except Jesus. He lived in the moment. [Which is why it is strange that his followers got fixated on a future so far away that it’s after death.]

I’m inclined to spend a lot of time regretting the past—Why did I tell that police officer the one about the cop who went into the bar with Thomas Aquinas?—or awfulizing about the future—I wonder how many years you can get for a bad joke? I need to spend more time in the present moment.

But some people stay in the moment so completely that it’s a toxic moment. Their moment is informed neither by the past nor the present. They don’t learn any life lessons from the past, and they don’t consider the results or the consequences of what they do in the moment. We see that often these days as people choose how they will vote for president—no lessons from past performance and no awareness of what their choice will mean in the future.

So, what is it? How do we live successfully in the moment, but not have it become useless because the moment has no life lesson from the past nor any awareness of the future? I think Phil Jackson had the right idea, but he left out a word: Trust God in the moment.

God will tell you when to leave the mountain.

John Robert McFarland

1] The one near Seattle.