Some Thoughts on Joy and the Marrow of This Present Moment

What an awesome winter for cross-country skiing! :) Today, while out on the trail - exhilarated by adventure and joy, awed by the beauty and romance of creation, I was thinking - if only I could get a job where I got to be outside in the woods every day like this.

Then, all of a sudden, I knew God was speaking to my heart a huge, "Hello! What about fully experiencing this present moment!" ;) Of course! I am so rich in what is right in front of me! And - Yes! what I really want is to savor more everyday moments like this and to have a greater awareness and gratitude to celebrate what is right in front of me. Sometimes I do get too greedy and think that I need to somehow arrange for my future happiness with some master plan. But really, there is life right here and now that I do not want to miss! God is continually providing me with life and daily bread. That made me think of this passage from Matthew 6:25-34 NLT about the birds and the lilies of the field and how God cares for us:

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God^[d] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Thank you, God, for all of that. I want to keep soaking up the marrow of this present moment with You - and each moment after it on into eternity. Nothing compares to the romance and adventure of life with You :) 

Immeasurably More

Also, this past weekend on an Amtrak train, I sat by a woman who is a minister at an African Methodist Episcopal Church. What stood out the most from our shared conversions and reflections on each of our lives, God, was that you are always working things out for our good in ways beyond what we can ask or imagine - You are with each of us through all the ups and downs of our lives and You care about the tiniest details of each of our lives.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

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. . . this same God who attends to the majestic details of the universe also gives meticulous attention to the minutiae of life. For instance, the Bible says that He has the hairs of your head numbered. That's serious attention to detail! Not one baby bird falls out of its nest apart from his attention (see Matthew 10:29-30). He is God of both the macroscopic and the microscopic. Nothing is too big or too small to be beyond His direct control. . . . There is not one person who is continuously on my mind, but you are never out of God's conscious thought or away from His immediate attention. He has been obsessed with you for all eternity and can't take His mind off you. He is so in love with you that He has committed all the resources at His disposal (which are considerable) to your well-being. God has never glanced away from you for a moment. . . ." -from A Divine Invitation by Steve McVey