Moments like Now

   One afternoon, 3:30pm, exhausted, I took a nap. Daughter Michelle had just started playing chess with Casey when I lumbered up the steps to sleep. At 5:00 pm, 90 minutes later, I awoke, went downstairs, —they were still playing chess! engaged with each other in such a touching, loving fashion. She connects with him in such deep love, such candor, such loving respect—and he with her. They were relaxed and in the moment

   I’m fidgety, I don’t hang out well, I don’t game well. It bothers me, I complained about it to Susie, she said, “Well, you have a lot on your mind.”

   The ‘lot on my mind’ is valid, but I recently read a book based on a Zen perspective which observed that many people lose their lives by not living in the moment. So focused are they, for example, on Work goals that getting up, showering, eating breakfast and driving ‘don’t count’.     

   How could those activities not count? The yield is a Life unlived in the Moment. There is only one place to live: In The Moment. Moments like Now. “Today is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” 

   The zen philosophy puts a fine point upon it: Really, we can only LOVE in the moment. We can only honor and obey God’s Spirit in the moment—the moment he says “Slow down, I want you to help that person, love that person, assist that person.”     

   Goals, yes, but not to the exclusion of today. NOW is the time. NOW is the moment.     

   As Tommy Barnett said, Plan for tomorrow, yes, but Live for Today.

   I’m working on that.