Unwrapping The Present
Dom is a photographer and community support worker in Winson Green.
Psalm 118:24 (ESV)
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
The nature of time is a profound mystery. A continuous and unstoppable domino run of events cascading down into ever-increasing uncertainty. Everything we can truly interact with occurs within the infinitesimally small tumble of one of these individual dominos - the present moment.
So why, then, if this is where our senses reside, do we spend so much thought-time being pushed and pulled into any moment but this one?
Whether it's the regret, shame or escapist nostalgia, or the worries, fears and restless fantasy of the future, we struggle to remain in the present (or certainly I do).
So how do we do it? How do we remove the unnecessary obstacles dragging our consciousness away from its rightful place - to be in constant communion with God, who promises to always be with us ‘even to the end of the age.’* After all, he is the omnipresent, great ‘I AM’**, not the I WAS or WILL BE (although he most definitely is all three simultaneously).
I’m still on this journey but through thought, prayer, conversations (and a healthy dose of Joshua Luke Smith’s podcast ‘This is The Main Event’) I think I’ve identified some useful tools to keep us on the tracks of the present moment:
Be honest.
Be beloved.
Be trustful.
Be grateful.
This week, we’ll be taking a look at each of these behaviours in turn, to delve deeper into the ‘here and now’, and begin, with the help of God, unwrapping the present.
Prayer - Father, you are the author of time itself. Help me to live in the present moment today, aware of your continuous presence with me.
*Matthew 28:20
**Exodus 3:14