Perfect Moments

I have heard it said that there is nothing like waking up in the predawn light, and taking a stroll down a deserted beach. The waves come crashing onto the sandy shore. Amongst the shells and other debris washed up overnight there might be hidden a few treasures. The salty smell of the ocean, the early morning dampness, a small breeze, and the quiet solitude of a beach that later in the day will be bustling with traffic from people hurrying to catch a few hours in the sun... all of these things combine to form the “perfect moment”.

For me, I have been to the beach a few times. But, it seems, I’ve only been there when everyone else gets there... with the beach umbrellas and blankets and towels – and the masses that accompany such things – already in place. It’s still beautiful and an awesome thing to see those massive crests come rolling in.... water around your ankle one moment – then up over your waist, about to bowl you over. But so far, I have missed that “perfect moment” at the beach.

I have seen much of the United States, from the roadway. But I haven’t yet visited the wide expanses of the west, except for a single venture as far north and west as Colorado – which by itself has hundreds or thousands of beautiful locations...

One place that I have read much of, but seen little of, is the lands of western New Mexico and Arizona. A lot of people drive through and think of what they have seen as a barren wasteland, a desert. And there is some truth to that... but even in the vast stretches of land where civilization can hardly take hold, there are many, many beautiful places. The red rock hills, the flat-topped mountains known as mesas, places where cities were built hundreds or even thousands of years before Christopher Columbus set sail... now empty with no traces of where the occupants disappeared to...

The Navajo have rich tradition that explains where their world began and how it was created... and whether, as with the Bible of Christendom, we believe or scoff, the stories are steeped with tradition and there are many lessons to be learned by all of us, if we open our minds. To be at one with the land, to open our hearts and our ears to better learn the lessons of the Creator, we can find a “perfect moment in the perfect place”, even in the deserts of the world.

I never even saw a beach till I was an adult. And I have only seen the deserts of the Southwest through the eyes of wonderful writers... But I have learned that there are “perfect moments in perfect places” all around us – sometimes where we least expect to find it.

I grew up in hill country. Sitting in solitude in the middle of the wilderness... hearing an occasional rustle in the dried leaves covering the ground as a bird scratches for worms, a squirrel chattering and scampering along the branches... The breeze blowing through millions of treetops, making a steady roar that sounds as loud but somehow nicer than the hundreds of cars whizzing by on an expressway... and depending upon the time of day, the buzzing of cicadas can be louder than anything else... Sometimes the forest, far from the city highways and crowds, is one of the noisiest places to be... But, to be alone out there, at one with Nature and God, no one else within miles, it seems that has been my “perfect moment”.

A few years ago, I read a newspaper article about joyriding teenagers, armed with a pistol and a video camera, who went on a drive-by shooting spree in a large city in Texas. Of course, filming yourself committing felonies is not the wisest thing to have ever done... and they are safely locked away now. But I remember thinking, and even saying, I will never like or want to live in a large city like that.

And even now, the thought of living in a large city makes me cringe, but the time and years have taught me that “perfect moments” can be found in even the most unlikely places. There is beauty outside of nature... Examples include the Golden Gate Bridge, even the New York City skyline or the Statue of Liberty, the monuments in Washington DC.

One of my favorite city “perfect moments” actually came in a city that I don’t care too much for, New Orleans. Walking around the city, in the French Quarter near the Market, I was overcome by the multitude of smells, many nice, including wonderful aromas wafting from corner cafes... and the sounds of music from here and there, from the lone musician sitting against the wall on the sidewalk, playing the best New Orleans jazz, and even sounds drifting out of the clubs... and a few footsteps away, the great Mississippi River as it flows past – walking on the levies that keep the city dry... That was a “perfect moment in a perfect place”.

Whether wandering through a crime-ridden downtown area, or lost in an arid, dry wasteland, in a wilderness far away from the nearest shopping mall, or a chilly pre-dawn beach before it’s warm enough to get wet... we have the ability to see the best or the worst in the world around us. Many times we complain bitterly about the bad... and never even realize that our complaints have blinded us to the perfect moment that life has presented to us. Maybe it’s time that we should try to “slow down and smell the roses” – find a moment to enjoy where we are and what we are doing... Maybe we should stop looking at the bad, stop rushing through to the end of wherever we are headed..... and just relax. Take the co-pilot’s seat and see what the Pilot wants us to see.