The Present
“What comes next? The answer is: we never know. No matter how smart we are, how carefully we have planned, or how much data we have gathered, we are still only mortals who can never control the future. We live in the now, in the eternally changing series of spaces we call the present. The now is where we shine. In the now, we can have an impact, be creative, shape reality, and build relationships that can withstand change. What happens tomorrow may always be a surprise, but what happens today can still feel our presence. In fact, we are the artists of the now. We can turn a moment into a memory, a glance into a promise, an idea into a vision that will last forever.” —Steven Charleston Daily Facebook Page.
capturing the present moment. Joanna Campbell
I think I became aware of the gift of living in the present moment in the 1980s, when I bought Spencer Johnson’s 80-page book, The Precious Presence, as a Christmas present for my husband and decided to read it first. It is a practical parable of a man living in our fast-paced world trying to find meaning and peace, opening the most precious present. Later, during my self-help period, I would read two more of Spencer’s books, The One Minute Manager and Who Moved the Cheese, trying to cope with the demands of a busy pediatric radiology practice.
Then, I was reminded again of the power of living in the present when I read from C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters that God meets us only in the present moment. “The Present is the point at which time touches eternity.” This is where God lives in our lives. God is not in the past or the future, but is there to greet us in the present moment.
How do we stay in the present moment? Anthony DeMello in Sadhana teaches us that living in our body and not living out of our head keeps us grounded in the present moment. Likewise, spending time in nature connects us to the present.
Being with children keeps us in the present. Children live there and invite us into all its possibilities. We set up a creche with nativity figures that increase each week in Advent in our narthex or entrance or lobby area of our church. Most adults hurry right by it, but almost all the children stop and look and even want to touch it.
In this new year, may we learn to live into the miracles that happen in the present moment, every day, every moment, every second.
