I think about the future, toe the border of fret. I ponder, and figure, and think how I should plan.
I consider and study and analyze the past, to base my judgments of the present and the days and years to come on where I’ve been and what I’ve seen and how it’s all shaped my life. Lately I review it much, because I have a new lens of awareness, understanding, through which to see more in it than I have ever done before.
As savvy and good as all this is, has it left me bereft of the best time of my mortal life—now?
I am thinking of that conversation between Piglet and Pooh:
“What day is it?” Pooh asks Piglet.
“It’s today,” answers piglet.
“My favorite day,” declares Pooh.
What truly great wisdom!
So I have thought. And yet with all life’s interruptions and conundrums, I am prone to forget. The past is past, the future I envision may never come at all. I could not fashion it with all the wisdom of the One Who is its Craftsman, even were I given the power, for, say, a year! Meanwhile here I am in Now, with all its beauty, surprises, and potential joys, just for the seizing and savoring…. if…
…If I will but remember in my reviewing and my guessing and planning: Now is the only time I have, really have. It’s where I live. And it’s a treasure trove worth exploring with all the focus of my soul. So may I do.
Thank you, God, for… now!
[Response to today’s Five-Minute Friday Free-Write prompt: “Now.”]
Lovethis, and I completely agree with Pooh. Today IS my favourite day.
#1 at FMF this week.
That’s a great, and powerful, perspective, isn’t it? Blessings to you, now, Andrew.
That is really beautiful – “If I will but remember in my reviewing and my guessing and planning: Now is the only time I have, really have.” That’s exactly what I thought when I heard today’s prompt.
God bless you in your now, wherever you are.
Realizing that can change the frame of mind in which we do everything, can’t it, Matthew? Thank you for visiting and commenting here. And God bless you, too, wherever you are!
Now, goodness here! Sylvia-I so appreciate this timely post…I have been lost in the past and dreading the future, so good to be directed back to here and now. Thank you!
You can kind of guess that’s been the case with me, too, can’t you, Kel? These blog communities and prompts–for writing and for other art expressions–really can be an encouragement in the right direction, can’t they? So good to hear this from you here, and now. 🙂 God bless your day!
Such wisdom Winnie the Pooh has.
Yeah, Susan! Doesn’t he just? Funny how a cartoonish jelly-bellied bear can be so wise, isn’t it? Goes to show how a writer can use such devices to convey valuable wisdom to the whole world of people. Makes me consider the value of fiction, even “children’s fiction.”
May you be blessed with a beautiful weekend… and a beautiful *now*! 🙂
Love your reflection, Sylvia. Such a good practice. The act of remembering will help you to do it better every day. You already are + helping us all reading to remember too. Merry Christmas! Thank you for sharing your heart. Visiting from FMF.
Thanks, Christina, for visiting and commenting. Glad we met up this weekend at FMF!
I agree, it’s all too easy to get caught up in thinking about the past or planning for the future and forget to make the most of now. I love the Winnie the Pooh quote!
Lesley, I read this wise little bear’s words on someone else’s blog, but couldn’t find the post, or I would have linked it. The Pooh and Piglet illustration accompanied it, which I copied and hung up in my projects room. Guess I need a lot of reminding!
I really appreciate this post, Sylvie. I think there is much wisdom in it. I see all your readers agree, and I think you are helping us to savor what is right here in front of us. There are gifts for the taking and appreciating. I can be so prone to overlook them. I would add that I do intend to do some soul-searching through my past and some dreaming about my future. I think there can be real value in that that will even help me to savor my present more and not to waste it as I have in the past. I think that the key is not to wallow in and regret the past. But for me, I’ve been making some present mistakes. I need to think about my history and how I keep making the same mistakes over and over and consider their root cause so that I can finally deal with it. And I was just reading a book by a beloved personal mentor of mine, Anne Ortlund, now with the Lord. I always appreciated her wisdom and do so now via her books. In what I am reading she said that we are being shaped by our future. We are to keep our eyes on it and move forward. God has bestowed us with gifts right now, but He also grants gifts in remembrance and in envisioning a future hope. Sometimes, when I am really down or don’t sense His nearness, I actually encourage myself to remember His past goodness to me. The Bible encourages such remembrance. I also know that as I envision His future promises it gives me great hope. Sometimes the “now” is very painful, despite gifts I do glean in darkness. But when I know He will fulfill His promises to me in the future, including my future glorious experience in heaven, I move forward with hope, encouragement, and sure reward. I’m not saying this well, because it’s late. Anne said it so much better. And it reminds me of Paul: “Forgetting those things which are behind [which are, I presume his sins and mistakes] and reaching forward to those things that are ahead [his future], I press toward the goal [future] for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:13-14). Paul lived and worked in the now, but because he was driven by future goals and rewards. I realize you are not saying that you will never consider your past or hope for your future, and that if you dwell too much on either, you can never be grateful for your present. But I simply wanted to mention the benefit of the right kind of reflection on the past and the future. I am receiving such hope in dreaming and planning for what lies ahead. And yet, I know if I don’t think about my personal past where I continually bog down, I can’t correct it. And I always want to remember God’s faithfulness during my past trials. I am so prone to forget. I know I am RAMBLING! Ugh. Again, very, very sleepy. I think the point for me is that as a human being, I have been given the gift of being able to live in past, present, and future, with God’s encouragement and guidance. Man is the only creature who can do this. Thank you again for a beautiful post, and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!
Love
Lynn
It’s a matter of balance, isn’t it, Lynni?
I am so very grateful for the tools and helps that have enabled me recently to study and analyze my own past effectively and identify my own “same mistakes over and over,” and get to “their root cause[s] so that I can finally deal with it”—and keep dealing with it (now, and now, and now, as each new day is “now”) for as long as it takes.
All those actions, even the mental activities, are really present-time actions, aren’t they? one day (or hour) at a time. So is acting upon them, in that place where the rubber meets the road of daily decision. To act in ignorance would be foolhardy and potentially harmful. To get informed and never act on the gained understanding would keep me stuck in the old patterns and traps.
And some of the needed “action” is of the “negative” sort—like pronouncing a determined and settled “No” to things or people that have tripped me up in the past and hindered what God would have me be and do, and legitimately enjoy—in the present. This is where my realization has squarely landed, right now.
Prayers for you as you make your similar journey toward the freedom Christ has for us!
You have your head on beautifully straight!!! And wherever we land, what a comfort to know that God is guiding us and willing to forgive us where we …. I should say I!! have gone astray.
Oh! suddenly I had a thought about my wonderful father. It would have been his birthday today. He used to love singing Messiah, as do I. He thought it was clever of Handel to compose a particularly melismatic section for the chorus: “All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray.” On the “astray,” the notes wind circuitously hither and yon. And Daddy said Handel made it sound like so much fun! Ah . . . sin. There is a certain pleasure in it, but oh how I have rued times I’ve gone astray in my past. I’m so grateful that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and that His grace covers my whole life and will. Thank you for a wonderful post and further sharing!
Merry Christmas.
Lynni
Head on straight, Lynni? Well, sometimes. But I have to admit it has been taking me a lot of review of things past and confusion unwrinkling to keep from getting pulled aside and misdirected.
Prayers for you in your own similar pilgrimage. And Merry Christmas, too!
Bah humbug on confusion! Let’s both pray, Sylvie, that the Lord brings us clarity. His gift of writing and purpose can really help with that I think. I’m rereading Kevin McCarthy’s parable, The On-Purpose Person, which I find helpful. Also, speaking of pilgrimage, had to told you I’m going on a spiritual one? …. to Iona, Scotland. I vacillate between being scared out of my wits to a bit excited. I’m too sacred to be elated. But I sense God’s direction. Hopefully, then He will bring me through, and I will survive. I think He has something to teach me, but I have no clue what. I really have NO earthly idea why I am doing this, other than I feel mysteriously led. May I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year unwrinkling. Now if God would unwrinkled my skin, I would be very happy indeed! 🙂 Love Lynni