Unimpressive Moments

Last night I put my baby in the crib. This morning a one-year-old woke me up. (An hour early, I might add. So much for that extra hour of sleep.)

She doesn’t look any different today than she did yesterday. She’s not any taller, and her conversations still sound suspiciously like gibberish, and her steps are still very wobbly. But sometime between yesterday and today, she turned into a one-year-old. Okay, specifically at 4:58 this afternoon. But you know what I mean.

This first birthday is a big milestone. Kind of like graduations and wedding days and anniversaries. I’m so glad that life is not found in the big milestones.

If life was defined by these milestones, then I think I would be sad most of the time. Because life would be spent in increasing anticipation for a certain event and then a huge letdown once it was over.

Even though I loved my wedding day, I love my marriage even more. I’m thankful that I graduated from high school and college and seminary, but I’m more thankful for the experiences that filled my high school, college, and seminary days. I enjoyed celebrating my baby’s birthday, but more than that I enjoy my “every-days” with her.

It’s kind of like when Elijah was waiting for the Lord to pass by. A “great and powerful wind” blew in and literally shattered the mountains. An earthquake rumbled through. A great fire blazed.

God was not in them.

Then a gentle breeze started to blow. There He was. In the quiet. In the unimpressive moment.

Jesus defined eternal life as knowing God in John 17:3. I want to know Him. Not just on the mountaintops, but in the everyday moments. I want to teach my daughter about Him when we sit at home and when we walk along the road, when we lie down and when we get up. I want to teach her that life is not defined by the wind and the earthquakes and the fires. It is in the gentle breeze.

And so I am not afraid of all the milestones yet to come. I look forward to all the “firsts” and “lasts” in my daughter’s life, but I will not build my life around them only to be disillusioned and sad once they are accomplished. I plan on thoroughly enjoying my one-year-old this year, in every unimpressive moment that we have together…because those moments are where life takes place.