The Power of The Last Minute

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

I remember the family trip we took to The Big Island in Hawaii last year. We went to swim with the manta rays at night because we’d heard it was a cool experience (and my wife and I had swam with whale sharks in the Philippines the year prior and we wanted to see if we could give our kids a similar experience.

The captain of our vessel had been living on the island for many years but was originally from Friday Harbor, a small American village located on one of the islands near where we live in Canada. He had plenty of stories to share with us all, but the one that stuck with me the most was the idea of the “green flash.”

The green flash is a visual phenomenon that happens just as the sun dips below the horizon at sunset. The flash only happens for a brief moment — that’s why it is called a flash. You’ve got to time it just right. If you blink at the wrong time, you’ll miss it.

The conditions were perfect for us to witness the green flash on that manta ray excursion. The captain told us to look towards the horizon as the sun made its final bow for the day. And, in an all-too-brief instant, the green flash came and went.

So while I do remember swim with the manta rays, the power of seeing something that’s considered rare at the last possible minute was incredible.

There’s something that can be said about the power of the last minute. Many amazing things have been created in that last minute. Many events have taken place in that last minute. Many choices have been made in that last minute.

Make the most of the last minute. Because it — and its power — will be gone in a flash.