Ecclesiastes 3:11b

Ecclesiastes 3:11bNew Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 

Lately I've been hearing a lot about mindfulness meditation, and trying to practice it myself. I find that I often fall into the trap of either being so focused on the future that I miss what's happening in the here and now (or maybe trip over myself because I'm not paying attention!)

Or sometimes I so caught up ruminating about the past, that I can't prepare for the future or make the most of the present.

So sometimes either my head is in the clouds, or the past is weighing me down.

Have either of those been issues for you? Based on the number of people I talk to, it seems to be a common problem. Letting the past steal our joy of the present, or worrying about the future so that we fail to see what is going on now.

Yet we clearly have a sense of both the past and the present, and without them we wouldn't grow or mature. We navigate the past, present, and future, often it seems without a road map.

And with only a limited perspective.

Yet God has the whole picture. Past, present, future. All at once. All together. Kairos time rather than Kronos time. 

God's time rather than our time.

And the time we have most clearly and certainly with God is now. In the present. 

God is preparing us for the future, yes. And healing past wounds, certainly.

But standing with us, beside us, working through us, now.

Mindfulness helps keep me living in the here and now. Appreciating what is in front of me, and keeping regret and worry at bay. Do not worry about the future, God says.

Your past is forgiven, God says.

The road map might not be clear. It might be a mystery.  Yet, whatever I am focused on - past, present, future - it is by faith that I navigate it.  

And whatever the past or the future, God is with me now.

God of all time, help me to live each moment fully and gratefully.  Amen.