“Live in the present”. “Life is too short to be worrying about the future”. “Today is a gift”. Those are just a sampling of the cliches that have never stopped being told, but at the same time they are not listened too by the human ear. If anyone has never been told told to live in the moment, because life is a gift and worrying about the future ruins the present, then this blog post isn’t for you. Go explore the world. Find people to tell you to live in the moment and then come back and read this. Why? I am not here to tell the already told. This post is for people who have heard and believed in the ideal all their lives, but struggle to put the word to action.
I and many others believe that being fully engaged in the present moments of our lives is the ideal form of existence. The classic cliche is a book we have read that proved to be an enjoyable and agreeable read. It was so widely accepted and beloved they even made a movie adaptation of it. However, the movie didn’t do the book justice. Parts were left out. Favorites things were overlooked. Important parts were not emphasized. Nothing turned out the way you imagined and hoped it would. But what can you expect. Putting words to action is a difficult task.
I believe I have been receiving signs recently telling me to stop worrying about the future and focus on the present. I know I should. Life is too short. We need to cherish the time we have now. One day we will look back at these moments and miss them. The logic and beauty behind the philosophy is undeniable, but it is hard to give the philosophy life in our reality. It’s just simply hard to stop worrying, imagining, or hoping for the future. Its hard to not fear what tomorrow may bring. It’s hard to not worry about the pain that might be encountered. It’s hard not steal time from the present in attempts to prevent future misfortune. It’s also hard not to hope for a future better than the present. It’s hard not to try to imagine what a better life will entail. Its hard to stop trying to do the impossible and live in the future, and consequently distancing yourself from the present. Its too hard. However, struggle can add value.
All of the wise men and women who tell us the wise statements I am addressing usually leave out how one would actually become successful in forgetting about the future and fully living in the present. But I think the how is an open ended question on a test. Answer it how you want, but you might not get it right. Jesus, as usual, has something to say on the subject. In the passage titled Trust In God (hint hint) Jesus asks, “Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?” Luke 12:25. Now imagine this is an open ended question on Mr. Jesus’s final exam. Now the obvious correct answer is no, but what if Mr. Jesus pulled the oldest and cruelest teachers trick that there ever was. What if he added one simple word to the instruction. EXPLAIN. His students have been stumped for years trying to figure it. We know the answer. We know what we should do. We just don’t know how. Some have succeeded and some have not. Only if we students actually listened to our teachers lessons. Answering that question on Mr. Jesus’s final exam would be much easier. If we listened to our teachers lectures,we would remember when he talked about the human need for food and clothing and telling us not to worry.“Your Father knows that you need these things, Instead, be concerned with his Kingdom, and he will provide you with these things.”Luke 12: 30- 31. In this passage Jesus addresses the common human worry of obtaining the necessities of food and clothing. Here we are 2000 years later and our worries for the future have multiplied dramatically, but that doesn't mean that God can’t be trusted to provided. Jesus tells us we need to become focused not on future needs, but on our present relationship with God and his people. He tells us we don’t need to worry so much about the future as long your faith in God remains stronger than our fears. Sometimes finding the answer to the question is as easy as opening up the textbook.
“Trust God and everything will turn out alright”. “God has a plan for our futures”. “Focus on your faith in God”. I realize I have just presented a new set of classic cliches that need acted out in our lives. There is a question that still reigns. How? I don’t know. I only know how I have personally come to trust God. This is a new open-ended question, but everyone’s answer is going to be different. Some answers might still be wrong, but there are also multiple right answers. Everyone's path to discovery, faith, and trust is different. I do not know other followers paths, nor do I think it is my business to know. However, despite the many different paths the destination is the same. The destination of trust in God is what's going to offer us deliverance from fear or anticipation for the future, and allow us to be truly connected with our present state, our present relationships, our present beliefs, and our present trust.
