Saturday, July 21, 2007

Enjoying the "now"

Lately I've been ruminating about how I love different periods of time. Seeing as how history was my major, this isn't really surprising. I think it's fascinating to learn about people, places and how day to day life was. WWII, the pioneers, the Tudors, the Spanish Inquisition, the Boston Tea Party, I'll take it all. You'll either find my nose stuck in a book reading, or when I'm not doing that, I'm day-dreaming about the future. Funny, huh? I mean, complete opposite end of the spectrum. I like to imagine what our house will be like, what colors I'll paint the walls, what flowers I'll put in the backyard, where the playhouse and swing set will be in the backyard, and three cute kids bouncing around. It doesn't seem to take much to spark some sort of dream in my head; just getting the new Pottery Barn out of the mailbox does it. Seriously, that thing is to me now what my American Girl catalogue was to me when I was 9. I love to pore over every page, see what's new, read all the descriptions, you get the idea. The thing is though...I don't think I give enough attention to the present. Not that I'm not happy with my life now (quite the opposite), but it just doesn't seem as interesting. By thinking about the past or the future, I don't know if I'm getting as much as I can out of right now - and I don't like that very much. I don't want to cheat myself out of all the great things that my life has to offer me right now. I think some of my problem is that I compare myself to others, and see where they are in their lives, and instantly think that I need to be right there too...even though I know that what's right for them now, isn't necessarily right for me. I don't think that loving history, or thinking about the future are bad things, but being consumed by them sure is.

Relying in the Lord's timing isn't easy...I know that I'm being prepped for the next stage of life, even though it sometimes seems like I'm going nowhere fast. But God ushers us into different seasons of our lives, not a day too early or late. That's a comforting thought. So while I'm here, I will embrace all things that He's put on my plate and in my life. I will embrace all that each day has to offer me. I will embrace the now.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a fantastic post. We all need to be reminded to live in the moment and remember that God's timing is so perfect. Yet it is hard not to think about and get excited about what's to come. It's something that we all do from time to time.

Anonymous said...

I think a lot of people do that - I did that the year before Conner was born. I would look at other people's "exciting" lives and covet them, not seeing the many exciting things going on in my life. Looking at my fast-growing toddler reminds me to live in the present, b/c I don't want to miss anything.