I had just finished my morning coffee and walked into the garage to get the garbage and recycling ready for the car.  Opening a cabinet in search of a garbage bag I noticed, covered in dust and under a box, my black Rawlings baseball glove.  Surprisingly, I did a double take and looked at it again.  The morning stopped, the day stopped, everything stopped, time stopped and I…stared.  I couldn’t stop staring at that old glove.  How long has that been there?  How come it looks so old and ignored?  Did I know the last time I played catch with it was the going to be the last time…I played catch with it?  Who was I throwing the ball to?  Who threw the last ball for me to catch?  I stared and stared and slowly and surprisingly a tear rolled down my cheek.  A small drop it was, patiently waiting in me to give honor to a moment that I wasn’t even aware of at the time.

            Do we know when the last of anything occurs?  The last throw, the last kiss, the last hello, or goodbye?  A lot of times we are well aware of the firsts, but the lasts.  Equally, if not more important, “lasts” don’t jump out and mark the calendar so clearly for us.  The lasts are hidden and unmarked, like an important road sign covered by the tree canopy.  We rarely know when we are experiencing the last.  The last is usually told to us or pointed out many days or years later… “hey, remember that? That was the last…” 

            Did the disciples know it was the last supper?  Were the participants, in the most historic meal in history, aware of the moment?  Maybe they had their own dramas going on in their head.  Were they thinking about where they were sitting, comparing stations, critiquing the meal?  If they knew, would they enjoy each bite, each salutation, and every word of every story?  We’re all guilty of letting our minds run into the future and retrace the past while neglecting to be present.  Meanwhile, “present” is the only place we will ever be. Ever. Present for the firsts and the “lasts”.  Today, as you walk through Gods creation, be present for the possibility you are experiencing a “last” …and savor every second, every word, every drop of it.

–Peter Martin