The Sacred Present

Do you ever feel like you’re being pulled in a bunch of different directions all the time? Or feel like you’re just a watered down version of yourself who’s hardly getting by or barely getting through all of the things you have to get through every day? We put so much pressure on ourselves to do everything and to be the perfect mom, wife, employee, or whatever label it may be. We end up feeling guilty because we can’t possibly live up to those expectations and we end up missing out on what is really important. That guilt does not come from God. Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us how short our life is so that we may become wise.” He wants us to be wise with the gift of time that He has given us.

A lot of you know by now that my dad passed away when he was only 58. I know that hindsight is 20/20, but when I look back I can’t help but wonder why I didn’t just spend more time with him when he was here. I was so focused on going out and doing other things. None of that even matters anymore. Obviously I can’t change that, but what I can do is choose to be completely present with my husband, Lee, and my 14 and 8 year old sons who won’t be this young for much longer.

Mark Buchanan said, “Those who sanctify time and give time away, who treat time as a gift and not a possession - they have an abundance of time. Now those who guard every minute resent every interruption, ration every moment and they never have enough… There is of course a place for wise time management, but management can quickly turn into rigidity. We hold time so closely that we crush it like a flower in our hand. What we thought we were protecting we end up destroying.”

I want to be present and I want to see the beauty in the now instead of just rushing through everything I’m doing just to get to the next thing. We need to figure out a way to be fully present in whatever we are doing. Whether it’s working, playing with our kids, exercising, or you fill in the blank – let’s be actively engaged in the moment we are in. Let’s let God teach us how important the time we have now is so that we can be wise with what he has given us right now.

Save