Moment Maker

I would like to take a minute to quick share something before I get to my thoughts and take-aways from Moment Maker by Carlos Whittaker…

Any author that is able to seamlessly include the line, “Faster than a knife fight in a phone booth,” into their writing is a winner in my book!

This year I’ve been slowly adding books to my Empty Shelf and although I didn’t realize it as I picked each of the books so far, there is definitely a common theme running through the books I’ve read…be intentional about living life fully instead of just letting life happen around you.  In Moment Makers, Whittaker reminds us that, “We were created by a God who wants us to live fully alive and on purpose.”  This theme is so fitting for me because my word for 2014 is intentional and I was reminded page after page in the book that life is best lived intentionally.

As I read the book I kept asking myself, what if I truly applied this to my life and lived in such a way where I intentionally created moments that made the world a better place?  In the book Whittaker talks about three kinds of moments…Created Moments, Received Moments, and Rescued Moments.

I think sometimes it can be easiest to start living out Created Moments because we get to be in charge!  We get to create amazing moments that make people feel special and valued.  Created moments can be a lot of fun which I think makes them easier to apply first.

Received Moments are the, “chance encounters and happy accidents,” that we encounter in life.  If we take the time to receive these moments they can truly be life changing.  Whittaker shares about moments on airplanes, encounters with seals and frightening car accidents.  And it is in these unplanned moments where our way of thinking is shifted.

I think that Rescued Moments can be the most difficult to experience.  They require us to take a failure and find a way to grow and learn from those experiences.  And let me just say…that can be really difficult to do!  It seems easier to just curl up and wish away the experience, but when we do that, we’re missing out!  Whittaker encourages us to, “wait long enough to see what God may be doing in that moment that you have yet to understand.”

I hope you feel inspired to go and pick up a copy of Moment Makers and to start Creating, Receiving, and Rescuing Moments!  Do you have any suggestions of other books I should check out?