Choir Notes

The Person and the Moment

From Music and the Spoken Word

Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell • Program 4376

From time to time, moments arise in our lives that require us to stretch farther than we ever have before, to rise to the greatness that we didn’t know we had within us. 

For one young couple, it happened when their twin girls were born. All of the anticipation and expectation of the long-awaited day became real as the new parents brought their babies home to a once quiet and calm apartment. How could they ever adequately prepare for such a moment? Their whole world changed as the size of their small family suddenly doubled. And yet, upon reflection, they realized that various experiences and events over the course of their lives really had helped them prepare to be the parents of these two adorable babies. 

When people and moments meet, great potential that has been lying unnoticed inside us is revealed. Those moments, large and small, happen to all of us—in every season of life. A phone call or a blood test or an accident can immediately change everything. Some moments we anticipate, and we have time to prepare ourselves. But often they happen unexpectedly, without warning, in ways we couldn’t have imagined. Either way, in time and with perspective, we begin to see how our past experiences have helped prepare us to rise to the occasion and do things we may have never thought we could. Though these moments can be trying, without them we would never know just how much we can achieve.

Remember the lyrics from the Broadway musical of decades ago:
Should you draw back the curtain,
This I am certain:
You’ll be impressed with you.
On a clear day
Rise and look around you
And you’ll see who you are.¹
When you meet your moment, face it with confidence. You’ll find that you can rise to challenges, draw strength from the lessons of the past, and go forward into the future with courage and hope.
1 Alan Jay Lerner, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965).