Living in the Moment - Mann

With the hype of the new movie, Contagion, we have become alarmingly aware of the possibility of a pandemic of disease. With the current news of the world’s economy, we wonder about the stage upon which our children and grandchildren will live out their life. With the high percentage of unemployment in the country, we look at the space increase between the have and the have not’s. It is reality, yet if you look closely at the previous sentences, words like become, wonder about and look at, are key in understanding their meaning.

How different it is to look ahead towards what might happen and trying to imagine what the circumstances will be, than it is to live in the moment and try to change the space in which we stand. The later may very well change another’s space in a positive way. Now we have two and the possibility of more lives experiencing good things. But I’m getting ahead of myself and looking ahead, aren’t I, which takes me away from the moment.

Doug and I have always had a small group in our home since we discovered the enjoyment of learning together with other people. One gentleman, whom I’ll call Jack talked a lot about living in the moment. He maintained that if we loved to the fullest, acted appropriately, kept the Great Commandment in mind at all times, our live and others would be changed, in the moment.

I liken this to taking a walk. If I begin my walk with the goal of walking four town blocks and maybe a glance over the David Street Bridge in Elora as I scurry across, I will probably reach my goal that I set for myself without difficulty. However, if I start walking, noticing the tiny white flowers, or weeds as some people might call them, crowd the sidewalk—my entire walk may be different. If I notice the natural sculpture on the huge walnut tree in the neighbour’s lawn or maybe the hanging branches of the willow tree on the corner house—my walk will be enhanced. And when I cross the David Street Bridge, if I pause to look at the wonder of the rock formation beneath me and the persistence of the trees that appear to grow from a scrap of earth on the side of the Gorge, surely I will learn a lesson.

What is different from casting my view at the horizon of my thinking, my fears and decisions, or as Jack would suggest that I stand, ‘in the moment’? Could it be that everything I touch, see and feel will directly affect me now—my attitude, my ability to do, to be? Could this in turn strengthen me, encourage me, empower me more to then go forth and do what I’m called to do . . . in the future?

Blessings,
Donna
ddmann@bell.net
http://www.donnamann.org/        Watch for the Agnes Macphail books