Living in the Moment

Dear Trekker,

Moments in time! This month, 9/11 had its seventh anniversary. The world can change in a moment! A few days ago, after his near fatal motorcycle accident, I stood at the bedside of a dear friend in Florida, in an induced coma, whose life on earth was teetering in the balance of prayer and the grace of a sovereign God. As I placed my hand on him and prayed aloud, His hand was upon His son; prayers were being heard, and the preciousness of the moment was filling the room. His Presence always makes the conscious present moment the Gift which surpasses all.

Moments are fleeting! If life is what happens when we’ve made other plans, perhaps we better celebrate the moment, take a hard look at it, and determine how best to celebrate within it. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it”, declares the Psalmist. My oldest son has experienced the depths of despair in recent years; now he calmly and reassuringly says, “Dad, I don’t plan too far into tomorrow. I am grateful for His Presence today. His grace moment by moment is sufficient.”

Often men of faith plan this life to the hilt, but will admit seeing the door slightly ajar inviting calamity to enter, sighing deeply, “Well, it will be worth it all when I see Jesus.” Indeed it will! But could an awareness of His presence moment by moment NOW be the vestibule of Eternity! Regardless of circumstances, is He not with us in every storm? To see God in the big and little things of life is to celebrate life with gladness and joy. To have our trust and faith in the loving God triumph in every unguarded moment is to “see Jesus in all of His glory.”

Tomorrow, I will do this, tomorrow I will do that. Ah, take no thought, for tomorrow will take care of itself. My life, your life, is a vapor. Puff, and it is gone! Every moment of life is a gift, that’s why we call it the present.

Another definition of life could well be, “Life is the immediate awareness of God’s Presence every moment of life.” To fully live in the present moment, we must not only see the past as “HIStory”, we must cease grasping at controlling the future, as if we were sovereign and God is not.

Some years ago, sitting at my desk in Washington, D.C. I was challenged to write a mission statement for a youth organization I was leading. Out tumbled the words… “celebrate life”…“be introduced and introduce others to the Lifegiver”…“become like Him!” If today, trekker, our greatest desire is to be like Him… Jesus with skin on to our world… realizing that as I am getting to know Him, I am a “new creature” and becoming more like Him, and that I desire to introduce my friend Jesus to others… then that is celebrating life in the moment of present and eternal significance. A quote by Thoreau expresses my thoughts well: “In eternity there is indeed something true and sublime. But all theses times and places and occasions are now and here. God Himself culminates in the present moment and will never be more divine in the lapse of all the ages.” When we believe this, trekker, as a continual revelation, we will have ever-renewed communion with Him. It will be like the fount of every blessing permitting us to drink deeply all that happens every moment of every day.

Living in the moment… celebrating the roller-coaster path of life… keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus! Sounds good Jim, but what are the keys to living this?

Recently I was reading and meditating in the book of Hebrews, a recounting to Jewish people of their promise fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. My eyes fell on verse 13, Chapter three: “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today”… which is sufficient reason to write you monthly! But as I read further, the word “rest” started coming into focus and repetition. The writer states… “there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God”… “let us make every effort to enter that rest.” We enter that “rest” as we settle in Him, moment by moment kept in His love, moment by moment experiencing His life from above through His Spirit.

Here is another book to add to your library. “The Sacrament of the Present Moment”, a work of Pierre de Caussade, a French Jesuit priest who lived and wrote in the 18th century. You can find it (in English) at Amazon.com. Caussade outlines a God of the present who literally knows no past or future, just “issues”. (Jesus, as the only begotten of the Father, called Himself “I Am”, you may recall.)

Trekker, we must learn to stop living in the past. If we do not, we will be overcome by pride or regret, neither of which is redeemable. “If only” must be loosed from our tongues and our minds.

On the other hand, we must not live in the future, grasping and clawing for a change in our circumstances. The future is actually a never, neverland, full of endless goals, worries, expectations, and always frustrations. Things will not change, they stay the same. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Hence we must enjoy and celebrate NOW the goodness of the air we breathe, the joy of sins forgiven and the glory of His Presence within and about. Did not the Apostle Paul say, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in; I have learned the secret of being in the moment of blessing”?

The secret of living in the moment is surely celebrating our union with Christ. “Christ in us, the hope of glory”. As we live in the moment, there will be a new awareness within and without. Wives and children will notice as we celebrate and encourage them… instead of always trying to fix them for the future. And the practice of the presence of God in the moment will result in a mature outcropping of the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faith, and self-control will become rivers of living water flowing from us into our world… moment by moment. Trekker, we can do it…moment by moment.

Celebrating life in the moment,

Jim Meredith