Be Where You Are.

As we all continue faithfully on in our quest for happiness, it becomes apparent that much of the happiness we do not enjoy is a result of not doing something properly or else rehearsing thinking errors or even making improper use of our time. Tonight, therefore, is all about time and how you use it. This has nothing to do with time management in the sense of scheduling, so please put away your notepads. But, this does have everything to do with what you do with your head in the time you are living in. Where are you right now? Are you here or have you mentally traveled away? Are you distracted by things and unable to properly focus? Or, are you spending your precious now mulling over and over and over some mistakes you may have made in the past. As my friend often said, “that one big thing!” Conversely, are you wasting away your present presence peering on tiptoes into the future, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of what’s coming next? All, my friends, an improper and unprofitable use of your time. Be where you are.

Time is such an interesting commodity. We all have it in equal proportion. Much has been written about the best way to use our time. We schedule, plan, strategize, adjust and finalize. We slot things in, often too many things in. We overwork and overtax our minds. We have too much going on. We are unable to focus because we are trying to focus on 5 things at once. We are sort of helter skelter and back and forth. God, it’s tiring! We can scarce relax because relaxing triggers our minds to find things we aren’t doing that we should do and won’t stop nagging us until we do them. It is no wonder we have difficulty being where we are as we are trying to be in several places at the same time. But, all that aside, the real issue isn’t so much what we have going on, busy or relaxed. The issue is do we endeavor to live only in the time period we are in or do we go elsewhere? We have a saying in the Christian circles I travel in. “The past has been completely resolved in Christ’s accomplishments. Our future with God is eternal glory. The only time period we have to live in is now.” God, according to the Bible, planned for us to live within 24 hour compartments. His idea was that we would live the day at hand and not try to live some other day. Mind boggler alert: God lives in our past, our present and our future all at the same time. (Told you-smile) We, however, can only live in the moment we are in. Our relationship with God is always and only in the moment we are in. We cannot access Him in any other moment. This design makes it clear that you and I will be infinitely happier if we focus our minds only on the moment we are in. In other words, be present. Be present. The happiness, the enjoyment, the blessings you are seeking can only be “found” in the moment you are in. They exist in no other moment. You are missing them because your mind is preoccupied with another moment. Consider what I’m telling you. Be where you are…

Time is something God invented. Crazy huh? God exists outside of the confines of time. Even crazier! Yet, we do not. We work within the environment and conditions given us. We have to learn to work with what is instead of what we think it is. The problem with not being in the moment fully is that we are wasting our own time. We exchange it for something we don’t want to do like worry about the future; try to solve impossible problems that are outside our ability to solve; try to fix other people; relive and re-punish ourselves for our past failures.  All a waste of time. All a distraction playing out over longer periods. You want to be happy and enjoy your life, but you can’t seem to find it. You can’t find it because you aren’t looking in the right place for it. You are mismanaging your moments. You’ve been caught up in something (me too). People are seldom stressed over the moment they are in. Instead they are stressed about the future or the apparent future. “What will I do? How will I manage it?” But, you won’t know what to do or how to manage it until it is here and is a real thing. In the moment, it’s not yet a real thing. And even if you are dealing with something hard or painful in the moment, the only day you have to live is the day that you are in. There is always the promise of tomorrow. Can you see what I’m getting at? Live this day, every waking moment of it. Don’t wait for Saturday or when you are off work or when your vacay starts or when you get the money or after you get healed or when it all lines up or… Stop waiting to live. God is here right now in this moment with you and He wants you to experience happiness and joy. He is most willing to help you find that which you have been looking for. But, He aint going to do it yesterday and He aint going to do it tomorrow. He is going to do it right in the moment you are in. Be where you are.

At the end of the day, whether you are busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest or have “too” much time on your hands, your happiness will be found in and only in the moment you are in. Yes, you can fix your schedule. Yes, you have to plan for the future. Yes, some lessons of the past are good to hold onto. But, the most important lesson is that you can only live in the moment you are in. Work is enjoyable when you are fully there. Time with your spouse is better when you are fully there. Exercise feels better when you are totally there. Whatever it is you have chosen to do, even if your choice is to do nothing at all, be fully present while you are doing it. You just might find what you are looking for. Be where you are.

Just some good thoughts…