Seizing the Moments: Making the Most of Life's Opportunities

By Rev. James W. Moore

Beloved author James W. Moore returns in the revival of his 1988 classic. Readers will appreciate Moore's distinctive style as he relates stories, anecdotes, and examples of people who learned to "seize moments" -- who turned opportunities and treasured moments into realized dreams. Each chapter features a related passage of Scripture. This edition also includes a study guide with questions ideal for personal reflection or for group discussion. Readers will discover encouragement and guidance for better living as they find themselves becoming more courageous, more willing to "seize the moments", and more aware of God's grace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dimensions for Living
• Release date: Mar 1, 2001
• ISBN: 9781426724381

Rev. James W. Moore

James W. Moore (1938–2019) was an acclaimed pastor and ordained elder in The United Methodist Church. He led congregations in Jackson, TN; Shreveport, LA; and Houston, TX. The best-selling author of over 40 books, including Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned, But I Have Several Excellent Excuses, he also served as minister-in-residence at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

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Seizing the Moments

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SEIZING THE MOMENTS

Making the Most of Life's Opportunities

Copyright © 2001, 1988 by Dimensions for Living

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Dimensions for Living, 201 Eighth Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37202.

This book is printed on recycled, acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for

ISBN 0-687-01552-9

ISBN 978-0-687-01552-8

Scripture quotations noted KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations noted NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ® Copyright © 1973,1978,1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

All other referenced quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Copyrighted 1946,1952, © 1971,1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission.

Many Scripture quotations are the author's own version.

Material on p. 31 from Living, Loving and Learning by Leo Buscaglia (Thorofare, N.J.: Charles B. Slack Inc., 1982) is used with the permission of its author.

On pp. 67-69, quotations from John Powell's Unconditional Love, © 1978, Tabor Publishing, Valencia, California, are used by permission of the publisher.

My Rules (p. 106) and I'm Making a List (p. 108-9) are from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, Copyright © 1974 by Evil Eye Music, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. and Jonathan Cape Ltd., London.

On pp. 109-10, D. L. Stewart's column, which appeared originally in the Dayton Journal Herald and subsequently in various newspapers through the McNaught Syndicate, is used by permission of its author.

Excerpts on pp. 133-34 from Children's Letters to God (New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1975), copyright © by Eric Marshall and Stuart Hample, are reprinted by permission of Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.

08 09 10 — 10 9

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

For my family at home,

my family at church,

and for special friends

who continue to challenge and inspire me

to seize the moments

Contents

Introduction:

The Tragedy of the Unseized Moment

1. The Light-bulb Moments

2. The Moments of Opportunity

3. The Moments of Grief

4. The Moments of Trust

5. The Moments of Love

6. The Moments of Spiritual Maturity

7. The Peacemaking Moments

8. The Moments of Commitment

9. The Moments of Spiritual Growth

10. The Moments of Life

11. The Moments of Kindness

12. The Moments of Creative Suffering

13. The Moments of Confidence

14. The Moments of Childlikeness

15. The Right Words for the Moment

Study Guide (John D. Schroeder)

Introduction

The Tragedy

of the Unseized Moment

In the hit Broadway musical Stop the World, I Want to Get Off! actor Anthony Newley played a kind of everyman character, and he sang that powerful song Once in a Lifetime. It contains these poignant words:

This is my moment. . . I'm gonna do great things.

This is my moment. We all have known that feeling, haven't we?—that special occasion when something stirs within us and we know that a unique opportunity is now available to us, maybe never to return again in just that way.We know the feeling of the crucial moment.

Sadly, however, we must confess that we also know the empty feeling of missing our moment, letting the moment pass. The truth is that life is a series of crucial moments, destiny moments, moments of decision. All of us have had the experience of sensing that this time, this occasion, is a special moment and we should say or do or be something. But because of fear, or timidity, or insecurity, we let the moment slip by. We do nothing, we miss our moment, and then we regret it greatly because we know deep down that we cannot reclaim it—that special moment is gone forever.

There is an interesting point here. Psychologists tell us that if we do not act every time we have this kind of feeling, we are less likely to act later when other such moments present themselves. Each time we fail to act, we become more closed, more hardened, more desensitized, more emotionally paralyzed.

A colorful illustration is found in Indian folklore. The Pima Indians believed that a stone with spokes sticking out of it was positioned next to the heart. If a person hurt or neglected someone, or did something to break down a relationship, the stone would begin to turn, and it continued to turn until the situation was set right or corrected. According to this fascinating legend, although the spikes rubbed against the heart, they did not cut or puncture it; they merely rubbed and rubbed until the heart became more and more calloused. In other words, the longer one waits to correct a situation, the more calloused one becomes.

A dramatic example is the mentally ill person who crouches on the floor in a fetal position, not speaking or paying attention to anyone or anything—closed in, withdrawn, turned off, and tuned out. What we often do is just as paralyzing. We trick ourselves by substituting emotion for action. We may feel something like sympathy or appreciation or a moral commitment, but then we say, Well, that takes care of that! and we do nothing. We trick ourselves into thinking that just because we felt the emotion, the situation has been taken care of.

Some years ago a member of our congregation was highlighted in the local newspaper for his great community work.I was so happy to see that St. Luke's member out in the community doing significant things, out there being the church in the world. I felt a warm glow, and I thought to myself, I'm going to clip this article out of the newspaper and write a letter of congratulations and appreciation to let this special friend know that all of us here at St. Luke's are proud of his dedicated efforts. Now, I felt that, and I meant to do it, but I didn't do a thing! I never got around to it! I felt it, but I did not act on it.

You see, that's what we do. We substitute the feeling for the action. We trick ourselves into thinking that just because we felt it, it has been cared for, and that is tragic! Unless we act on the feeling, unless we act at the crucial moment, it will soon pass, and nothing will have been done.

How many letters never have been written?

How many phone calls never have been made?

How many compliments have been left unsaid?

How many I'm sorrys remain unspoken?

How many Thank yous never have been said?

How many I love yous are still unexpressed?

How many commitments are still not made?—because we missed our moment!

If we put it off, the moment passes, the feeling subsides and is never expressed. We see this vividly in the Scriptures. For example, look at the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-24. He comes to Jesus in search of life, but then when Jesus says, Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor... and come, follow me (vs. 22b), the young man backs off. He is inspired by Jesus. Something stirs within him. He knows Jesus is right, that Jesus has the answers to life. He knows deep down that he should act; he feels it—but he turns away sorrowfully. He has it all—wealth, youth, power—the big three! Aren't those the things our world tells us we need to be happy—wealth, youth, power? But look! Despite all he has, something is missing! There is an emptiness, a void, a vacuum, a hunger, and he sees the answer in Jesus. But when Jesus offers him life, he turns away! He misses his moment! He was a good man (the story makes that clear), but he let this unique opportunity slip through his fingers. And he is not alone. In fact, most tragic characters of the New Testament were people who missed their moment. Remember some of them:

The Elder Brother—He missed the celebration. His pride and resentment of his brother made him miss his moment.

The One-Talent Servant—He squandered his opportunity and missed it.

The Priest and the Levite—They tiptoed by on the other side and missed their moment.

The Foolish Maidens—They missed the party because they weren't prepared to respond at the right moment.

Pontius Pilate—He held in his hands the life of Jesus. He could have done great things, but he missed his moment.

What About Judas?—He walked with Jesus, talked with him, ate with him, heard him teach, saw him do mighty works, felt his love. Yet the tragedy of Judas's life is that he missed his moment.

All these people graphically depict the tragedy of the unseized moment. And it is still happening. Unseized moments still come back to haunt us and fill us with regret.

Some years ago when I was a sophomore in college, a new student transferred into our school. In one classroom our chairs were in a semicircle, and he sat right across from me.Often I would look across and see him sitting there. He had the saddest face. He seemed lonely, and understandably so.He had arrived at mid-semester, didn't seem to know anyone and was always alone. I remember feeling sorry for him and thinking I ought to make an effort to welcome him, get to know him, introduce him around, befriend him. But somehow I just never got around to it.

Then one morning I picked up a paper and was shocked to read the headline: Local College Student Commits Suicide. It was the transfer student! He had left a note saying he couldn't go on because he felt so lonely. It was then that I realized I had missed my moment of caring. In my own way, I (like the priest and the Levite) had passed by on the other side. I (like the one-talent servant) had squandered my opportunity. I (like Pontius Pilate) had washed my hands.I (like Judas) had missed my moment! Ronnie Gaylord's song says it well: If there's any kindness I can show, let me show it now. How tragic it is when we miss our moments!

It is my hope and prayer that the thoughts in this book will, through the miracle of God's grace, make us more aware, more courageous, more willing to seize the moments!

1

The Light-bulb

Moments

Mark 1:14- 15   Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.

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Let me ask a question: How long has it been since you had La kairos moment in a chronos world? Of course, we need to begin by defining some terms. The Greek language, the original language of the New Testament, uses two different words for time—chronos and kairos.

CHRONOS TIME. The word chronos gives us the word chronology. Chronos time is drudgery time, time measured by the ticking of the clock. Each second is exactly like the one that went before it. Let me sketch in your minds the picture of chronos time.• Picture a man with insomnia. Unable to sleep, all he can hear is the relentless ticking of the clock pounding in his ears—that's chronos time.

Picture a convict in his prison cell, checking off dates on a calendar—that's chronos time.

Picture a man with insomnia. Unable to sleep, all he can hear is the relentless ticking of the clock pounding in his ears—that's chronos time.

Picture an office worker who hates her job, wishing five o'clock would come so she can get out of there—that's chronos time.

Or picture a student sitting in a classroom, bored to tears, wanting the bell to hurry up and ring.

Picture a man caught in a traffic jam, looking frantically at his watch, knowing he will be