Wake Up... And Live Today!
Over the past several months have you wished that you could simply go back to the past – before the spread of the Corona virus? Are you eagerly anticipating some point in the future when life will return to normal? Most of us have, of course, wished for either, or both, of these options. They do not seem to be on today’s menu…
To live in the past or the future is only possible mentally, not bodily and in reality. And yet, of the three – past, present, and future – the present is the most difficult place to live because it makes demands! To live in the past or the future is to live in a dream, asleep rather than awake. To live in the present demands that we are wide awake and responsive to what is happening in ourselves and in the world.
Living in the present moment should come easily because our bodies are created to live here. Our senses constantly provide information about the world around us – sometimes more than we want! Our minds process that information, sometimes with our active participation, sometimes without our attention. We learn early in life to put most of the work of interpreting the ceaseless flow of information from our senses on “auto pilot” by creating categories, labels, and prejudices to help file these experiences. While helpful in many ways, this habit sets us up to experience life not as it really is, but simply as we think it is. Between ourselves and the world there is a mental zone of interpretation, where we make sense of what happens around and inside us. Therefore, much of our living occurs only in our thoughts not in reality.
Paying close attention to the desire to flee the present moment, serves as a wake-up call warning us that we are at an important threshold. Avoiding the problems of the present through trying to return to the past or move into the future means losing the opportunities for growth available now. David Benner offers great wisdom:
“A great variety of experiences can serve as the messenger that brings us an invitation to awareness and offers us the potential of an awakening. Unfortunately, however, we usually evaluate these events negatively and, instead of welcoming them, do everything we can to ignore, minimize, or avoid them. In general, anything that produces significant internal conflict, a disruption of meaning and self-coherence, or a sense that our way of being in the world needs to change – any such thing has this potential to awaken us.”
By “awaken” he means to live in the present moment with our attention focused and our responses engaged. Those who are awake are willing to do the difficult work of facing reality, making decisions, and moving towards the desired goals.
Attempting to live in the past or the future is dangerous because it causes us to withdraw from reality, to miss what is happening in the larger world around us, and even to miss out on what God is presently doing. According to David Benner, “An embrace of the present moment can do something that nothing else can do: it can bring us into the only place where we truly are, the only place we can truly be alive, and the only place where we can truly meet God.” We remember God in the past, we anticipate God in the future, but we encounter God only in the present.
When you feel the pull to retreat into the past, or to comfort yourself simply dreaming of the future, wake up and engage the present. This takes great courage, but your courage will be rewarded when God meets you there.
As you awaken and face the challenges of the current moment, you may want to find a reliable companion for the journey. I would be delighted to walk that path with you.