There are some moments we want to preserve for ever, aren’t there, just as there are others we want to put behind us as swiftly as possible? My mother used to press flowers as a way of preserving the memory of happy walks in the countryside. More typically, nowadays, we take photographs, hoping that the visual image stored on our computer or in a photograph album will help to keep the memory fresh. I guess it does, to a point, but, of course, nothing can halt the march of time. It is always moving on, and we must move on with it. That may occasionally create in us a sense of wistful nostalgia, of looking back to happier times, but, above all, it should fill us with a sense of anticipation, of looking forward to what the future holds, in this life or beyond. For the promise of God is that, whatever has been, whatever we have tasted of his love, the best still lies in store. That’s the message of this reflective prayer, taken from my book Touched by his Hand.
Moving on
The camera
I wanted to preserve the moment, Lord,
to keep it on film for ever
so that I could relive it again and again.
Only, of course, I couldn’t.
Faithful though the picture was,
the moment was gone,
life having moved on,
and nothing would ever re-create it
quite as it was before.
Lord, teach me to recall the past but not cling to it,
to understand that life must be lived forwards
rather than backwards,
what has been a stepping stone to what is yet to be.
Amen.