Live in the 'here and now'

God wants us to appreciate the season we're in, the 'here and now'. Some people live for the future, saying 'I'll be happy when...' Others live in the past, saying 'Things were so much better when...'

The New Yorker magazine once printed a cartoon that had two monks in robes and with shaved heads sitting side by side on the floor. The younger one, with a quizzical look on his face, is facing the older one, who's saying: 'Nothing happens next. This is it.' This is what it means to live in the here and now. We aren't waiting for something else to happen, we're not distracted by anything around us, we aren't escaping mentally to another time. We're fully alive because we're experiencing the present moment!

God may have done great things for us in the past, and we can trust him for great things in the future, but his presence, power, goodness and favour can only ever be experienced now. Even if the present is unpleasant, when we yearn too much for the past or future, we risk missing what God's saying or doing now!



So what now? Do you feel like you're not fully appreciating your present? Are you looking back or forward in time, longing only for the pleasant, predictable and safe? Reflect on this: 'This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it' (Psalm 118:24 NKJV). Be willing to risk living in the 'here and now', trusting God to be with you.





— SCRIPTURE —

'This is the day the Lord has made.' Psalm 118:24 NKJV
— SOULFOOD —

Num 19-21, Mark 3:20-35, Ps 37:16-24, Pro 11:4