This Present Moment

Dr. Albert Rossi in his book, Becoming a Healing Presence, has a chapter called The Sacrament of the Present Moment. As I was reading the other day in the section Time Management I came across some very good reminders. Some thoughts I really needed to hear. Let me share them with you. These are just snippets that grabbed my attention through the 3 page section.

The first thing to say about time management is that there is no such thing. We don’t “manage” time. Time manages us if we allow the Lord to have a place in our schedule.

If we begin each day…

with the assertion that our time is not our own but the Lord’s we can adjust our expectations

…of what we think will happen as the day goes on. We can ask God to direct our steps, to show us what He wants from us.

This removes the emphasis on the ego and places it on the Lord, thus making us free and peaceful. If interruptions come, and they will, they can be perceived as coming directly from the hand of God. If we are sensitive to each moment as God’s moment, we can be grateful for interruptions, because God often moves in unexpected ways.

Our freedom consists in embracing all that happens to us, negative and positive, pain and pleasure, disappointment and joy, as a blessing in divine disguise.

We need to remember Jesus and then gain some perspective on what He wants us to do next. The Lord expects us to live a life of love for Him and for others.

We have all the time we need to do all the things God has us here to do, in a peaceful way. God is not stingy with time. We revere time as a way to remain peaceful, no matter what, to please God who gave us time.

I do think back to the time when my children were little. All the days spent in hurried, well, misery, in all honesty. What was the hurry? I had all the time I needed to do all that God wanted me to do and I am sure I missed out on so much. My inclination is to despair over this lost time.

But I must not. Because then I would be missing out on this present moment, right here and right now.

What does God want me to do today, right now?

I only need to remember Jesus and then gain some perspective on what He wants us to do next.

I can, from this moment, find ways to love my children with new eyes, with a new heart, even if they are adults. I can find ways to love my husband and my mom and all those He may bring to me. Just remember Jesus!

This mornings prayer from the “Our Father: Meditations on the Lord’s Prayer” put out by The Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration in Ellwood City, PA was very fitting for this reflection of This Present Moment. Let’s end with this prayer which is focusing on “Give us this day”…

This day is all I ask for, O Lord. Give me the strength for the hours as they come one by one. For my sustenance let me ask for that only which I need, Thy will to fulfill. Let me have enough of the spiritual and the material so that I may help all who knock at my door and send none empty away. Show me how to share the blessings of this day with my neighbor. Teach me to fear neither the good nor the bad, to bravely live them both to the full, through both working out Thy will. Let no lack of generosity hamper my actions. Let my heart never be so small that it cannot love and forgive. Let me have the humility truly to rejoice over every minute and what it brings. I know full well how undeserving I am; yet let me seize every opportunity to turn every hour to Thy glory. Walk with me this day as Thou didst with Luke and Cleopas to Emmaus. Let Thine Angel guide me and show me what Thy demand of me is for this day. AMEN

We have all the time we need to do all the things God has for us to do today. Let’s remain peaceful and present, to listen for his still small voice to guide us in this present moment.