Around the globe, there are seminars, websites, and books devoted to teaching people how to live more in the moment, in the now. We’ve all had experiences in which something happening around us is so good, so stirring, that we become determined to be fully present and not get distracted.
For really living in the now, I’m finding that a good first step is to observe the present moment through the perspective of prayer. Beyond focusing on what is occurring around me physically in any moment, I have become more intentional lately about considering what’s presently happening spiritually. This takes me beyond feeling like I’m simply drifting along within a string of mortal moments.
Surprisingly, it’s not as difficult as expected to feel appreciation for the present reality that God is causing – God’s moment (which is really the only moment).
What is the specific nature of this present reality? God, whom the Bible names Truth, Spirit, and Love, is exclusively good. Christian Science teaches that divine Spirit creates us all as its ideas. We are the direct result of Spirit, so we are, in truth, no more physical than God, divine Love, is. This seems a bit startling, yet it makes sense when we consider how like produces like. God is nonmaterial, so to be God’s creation means we possess a solely spiritual and perfect identity, without even one intrusive molecule of materiality.
Because he so clearly comprehended that, right here and now, there is only the single, timeless version of creation, Jesus showed his followers a useful path for addressing worry: “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes” (Matthew 6:34, Eugene Peterson, “The Message”).
Jesus proved the validity of these concepts on an occasion when he was in a ship, traveling along with his disciples. “There arose a great storm of wind” (Mark 4:37), and his disciples were terrified that all was lost. Instead of being tempted to focus on the possibility of a terrible shipwreck, Jesus, knowing in that moment the peace and power of God’s presence, commanded the sea, “Peace, be still.” Then, the Bible account tells us, “The wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39).
The individual who founded Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, had a lot to say about paying more attention to the present safety and supply that come from being divine Love’s creation. In her book “Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” she counsels, “Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment” (p. 307).
What Love is causing us to be and causing us to do right in this moment can gain and have our full attention.
In practical terms, what does this look like? Spirit’s action within its creation is seen in intelligence, grace, confidence, pure affection. So, whether we’re designing a moon-bound rocket or simply rescuing a worm that is drying out on the sidewalk, the nowness of Spirit’s magnificent and loving presence, to the degree we choose to express it, will enrich us immensely and enable us to help others more effectively. We don’t want to skip over one single opportunity to experience God in action.
In the Bible, “now is the accepted time” hints at the ever-presence of God’s purely good moment (II Corinthians 6:2). As Spirit’s self-expression, our role simply is to be. We exist to express God’s changeless, perfect nature. What is our current and always state of being? It is fully a reflection of God’s current and endless state of being. Joyfully and willingly, let’s pause to experience what’s happening spiritually here and now.
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