Lately, the Lord has been teaching me a very important lesson: treasure the present moment. In a homily a few months ago, our pastor pointed out that if we’re too busy looking back on the past or planning for the future, we miss out on what God is trying to show us right now.
When I go for my daily walk on the rail trail I tend to spend a lot of time looking back on my mistakes and sins, lamenting what could have been, or looking ahead at what I need to do that day or that week, etc. When I talk to people I often catch myself thinking more of what I want to say next, rather than really listening to what the other person is saying.
For the past few weeks, therefore, I’ve been really trying to live in the present moment. When I go for a walk I try to listen to the birds singing, and I try to look around, taking time to marvel at the beauty of God’s creation.
God has been showing me that I especially need to be more aware of the people around me, not just my family and friends, but the people I meet on the street or in the grocery store. If I’m too wrapped up in my own thoughts and plans, I miss out on opportunities to share God’s love with others.
I like to read “The Word Among Us” (a magazine with meditations on the daily Mass readings). On May 23 of this year, there was a meditation that really struck me. The first reading for that day was about the time St. Paul spent in prison in Rome before his execution. The meditation for that day was about a Vietnamese cardinal named Nguyen Van Thuan, who spent many years in a Communist prison.
Rather than lamenting over what he had lost, or looking ahead to the day he would be free again, Cardinal Van Thuan chose to “live the present moment and fill it with love.” He accepted God’s will and saw his present situation as his “cathedral” and his fellow prisoners as the people God had given him to care for.
The author of the meditation then encouraged readers to look at difficult situations in their own lives and “decide here and now to make this situation your cathedral and…try your best to accept God’s will.” There are many situations in my life that I’ve wanted God to just “fix,” so that I’d be free of the stress and pain. I’m trying really hard, though, to submit my will to God and trust him to work things out in his time, for my good and for the good of those I love.
In the meantime, I’m trying to be more open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and to follow through on every opportunity he gives me to “fill the present moment with love.” It's a daily struggle, but I believe that God will accomplish his work in me, little by little, if I but trust in him and respond to his grace.
