What are defining moments? Most of us would say that they are times when we encounter something that radically changes the direction of our lives. Others might say that it is a time when our perspective does a 180 and we can never think the same. In both scenarios, the moment is metaphysicalized into something that will change us forever. Truthfully, it is never this dramatic, as the proportion to how defining any said moment is, is dependent on our capacity to attach meaning to it.
Still, even if these moments are not some grand plot device in the story of our lives, as there is no story to our lives, these random moments can become defining if they do one thing; remain with us. As we go through our lives, we find ourselves having moments every single day, moments that just seems random and inconsequential. This is the "nature" of life; a series of random events that are cobbled together to form a narrative that we call "our life story." As such, any one moment is no more important than any other, but in the process of unconsciously crafting "our story" we attach these grand meanings to moments. More often than not, these defining moments are things like a marriage, the birth of child, a debilitating accident, a new job opportunity. Something that has a physical consequence; something that we can point back to and say, "see, my life was different from that point on!" While this is true, this is also true of any moment, as your life has no set path to follow. It is always in the process of being different. However, there are times that "stick with us" and many times these aren't the big things that were mentioned previously.
These "stick with you moments" are times when something happened; an inconsequential moment like a million others, but that your mind won't forget. A moment that can manifest itself at the most random of times. A moment that remains vital and relevant years after it occurred. For me, one such event was my summer spent in St. Louis. While this event would count for the "big defining moment" category that I mentioned above, the immediate physical outcome, a bolstering in my Christian faith, did not last. Much of what I attached so strongly to after returning has faded into a reflection that seems better suited to someone else's life. However, the inconsequential details are the ones that continually rear their heads. A young boy scowling at me and saying, "I hate white people," a conversation with a homeless man about a homeless shelter that was less than godly, and a half heard conversation between two other people about black and white views of each other. These are the things that stick out years after. These are the things that continually come up from the waters to say, "deal with it!"
Faith, is not something that is dependent on physical circumstances. It is, as a wholly metaphysical reality, in opposition to physical reality and that is why such "mountain top" experiences never last. However, the minutiae never leaves, as it is the minutiae that creates our physical world. It is the minutiae that never leaves us alone, continually shining on us like the sun. We may not notice all the time, as it is constantly there, but when we stop to admire it, the complexity becomes readily apparent.
Defining moments exist, but in ways we don't realize. They won't make themselves apparent until years later and in retrospect, will never be what we think they were.
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