Are You Happy With Now?

What if you were completely satisfied with this moment right now?

I started thinking last night how much of our time and energy is spent in anticipation of:

the weekend
next month
November 3 (Oh wait, I think that's just me...)
a different season
freshman year
senior year
another year
another time
another place.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this kind of thinking; anticipation can be good. Planning is necessary.

But are you able to set all that aside as needed and be genuinely satisfied with the present?

If yes, great. You don't have to finish reading this post.
If not, let's chat a bit more.

Truthfully, I'm preaching to myself right now. Truthfully, I am living in GREAT anticipation for that November 3 date when my fiance and I will finally be man and wife, and there is nothing wrong with that. Truthfully, I did not expect it to be so hard to be satisfied with my here and now, and that struggle is refining me.

So I go back to God's Word. Psalm 118:24 says, "THIS is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

I cannot dismiss the utter gift that right now is, because it will never happen again. There is much to do, much to say, much to listen to, much to be each day. Jim Elliot once said, "Wherever you are, be all there." Be all here. In this day. THIS day. Not 2 weeks from now. Not next month. Not 2 months from now. Not 5 years from now.


 I encourage you all, as I am firmly encouraging myself, to finish drinking all now has to offer before moving on to...

...whatever's next.

"Let not our longing slay our appetite for living."

--- Jim Elliot



The Forever

From a journal entry in December 2010, with some modifications :)

Always.

Forever. 

Our society really misuses these poor words. I mean, we don't really have other options. The English language didn't give us words to denote varying levels of a particular idea or sentiment, like other languages do.

I personally toss these words around without thinking about them.  How many times have you said or heard phrases like these?

"I was waiting for the doctor for forever today!" (Hmm...is 45 minutes more accurate?)

"Like, for real- I was in that line at Wal-Mart forevvaa!" (I think it was probably 10 minutes.)

"Ugh, I was stopped at the light for forever!" (Two minutes, really? Forever?)

Forever is used in these circumstances to denote how long they lasted. It can also be used to declare such unending pleasure in a particular activity as to wish away its unavoidable termination.

"Ohhh, I wish it was always Christmas break!"

"I could just sit here on the beach for forever!"

Etc., etc.

Using this as an example, Christmas Break cannot last forever- we must move on to the rest of our calendar. If it was break all the time, how would we know to enjoy it? There would not be anything significant to let us know that we could and should enjoy this restful period.

These trite phrases are traded fast and furious throughout the day. What got me started thinking about this was eternity and heaven, and how our lives there as Christians really are forever. Our lives there will never end.

Do we really know what always and forever means? Can our brains even process this concept?

Think of how bounded by time our world is, especially the Western world. Everything most definitely has an end.

We finish books, we complete a degree, we consume a meal, we arrive at our destination, the song ends, the party ends, our naps end, the movie ends, the story ends.

Yet in heaven, The End no longer has any relevance. What will that even be like?

Truth is, we don't know yet. We can't know, because our minds are still bounded by time. I'm ok with not fully comprehending yet. 

I'm no philosopher or theologian...I just was thinking, and wanted to get you all to do the same...