Living In The Moment...

My sister Jean and I were discussing depression. We were saying how when we were young nothing worried us we just lived in the moment. 

But now we are older we have lost that and just worry a lot  about the past or the future.

And at the end of our conversation we said that we need to live in the moment and take each moment at a time and enjoy it.

So when I was reading The Serenty Prayer by Trevor Hudson this stood out from... CHAPTER 6 Enjoying One Moment at a Time 😁

The Importance of the Here and Now.

 If we are going to enjoy the present moment, we first need to be convinced about its importance. Too often we allow ourselves to be preoccupied with the past or the future. We struggle to live wholeheartedly in the present. Like a ping-pong ball that goes from one side of the table to the other, our minds constantly bounce between yesterday and tomorrow. We need to catch this ball, hold it lightly and give this moment our full attention. Strengthening our belief that what is most important is the here and now will encourage us to attempt this. Here are two thoughts that may deepen this conviction for you. First of all, the here and now is all that we have. We can visit the past, imagine the future, but we cannot live in either of these two places. Our lives happen minute by minute, second by second, moment by moment. It is in the here and now that our lives and Life intersect. For this reason the present moment is something very precious. We will never get another chance to live in it. It is unrepeatable. a deeply sacred gift from God.

This could be why Jesus said that, if we are going to experience God, we need to become like little children. Children live totally in the present. Next time you walk past a playground, take some time to look at the children. Watch them playing with each other. Notice how simple things like throwing and catching a ball, playing hide and seek or riding on the swings capture all their attention. Observe the absence of hurry. Once upon a time you and I were like that – able to enjoy the present moment. The good news is that we can rediscover this gift.

In a Nutshell : Most of us live too much in the fast lane. When Friday evening comes around we wonder where the week has gone. Everything seems a blur. Against this backdrop of our busy lives, the Serenity Prayer steers us towards the importance of the here and now. It is in the present moment that God wants to give us the gift of peace. To receive it we need to slow down, live gratefully and accept that we have only one life to live. Maybe then, even with the bear above us, a lion beneath and the groundhogs chewing away at our lifelines, we will enjoy the strawberry.