The blessings of life in the "now"

Many of us are concerned about the future. From global warming to unstable economies to threats of terrorism, the concerns seem reasonable. On a personal level, people often wish they knew how things were going to work out in their lives. But unlike reading a mystery novel, we can’t flip to the last page for the answer. So we spend lots of time guessing and formulating various scenarios. Sometimes we’re on the money, and sometimes we’re not.

But we lose a very valuable thing—the present—when we spend time this way. To focus on tomorrow is to overlook the joy and happiness that’s available today. And this obsessive eye on the future prevents us from taking advantage of the good today that can lead to even greater good tomorrow.

Recently, I was concerned about the end of a temporary job and how it would impact my family financially. I kept trying to figure out a solution, but at the same time I kept wondering what would happen to us if I didn’t come up with one. I was overwhelmed with worry about the future.

When I wasn’t able to move beyond this feeling, I realized it was time to pray. While praying, I realized that all I have control over is what I am thinking and doing now.

In an article called “Now and Then,” Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “We own no past, no future, we possess only now” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 12). I can’t touch the past or the future, which means I need to focus on the “now.”

But a spiritual sense of the “now” is quite different from the worried view I’d had before I prayed. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy referred to one of the Apostle Paul’s statements and then enlarged on it:

“‘Now,’ cried the apostle, ‘is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,’— meaning, not that now men must prepare for a future-world salvation, or safety, but that now is the time in which to experience that salvation in spirit and in life.” God is here now, and He loves us. He is guarding, guiding, and governing His creation—and that includes each of us. His goodness is operating now and forever.

We don’t need to wait for a future that is more perfect than today. We can experience harmony now. All that is required is for us to acknowledge God’s presence and power.

When I was focused on what might happen or on how things could work out, I wasn’t listening to the ideas God was sending me. I was humanly trying to find an answer to the problem, and leaving God out of it. When I started to listen to Him, it quieted the fear and opened my thought to His plan, His infinite supply of ideas. And adjustments have already taken place, including a raise for my husband that totally replaces the income we lost when the temporary job ended.

Living in the “now” means listening to God’s direction and taking action on the ideas we are given today. The Bible tells how the children of Israel learned this lesson with the manna from heaven.

Each day God gave them enough to eat. When they tried to save the food for the next day, it rotted. They didn’t need to hoard—in fact, it was useless to do so. They just had to take advantage of the abundant good given to them each day to experience God’s complete provision.

A hymn I love includes this verse:

   Day by day the manna fell:
   O, to learn this lesson well.
   Still by constant mercy fed,
   Give me, Lord, my daily bread.
   (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 46 )

We are given the ideas and inspiration—our daily bread—that we need moment by moment. They must be used now, and we will be given what we need tomorrow when tomorrow arrives. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”

I’ve seen evidence of this fact in my own life. In the 1980s, my husband and I owned a condominium at a time when in our area there were many business failures due to a weak economy. We were affected when the company holding our mortgage went under and we couldn’t get another company to loan us the money to cover the mortgage. We could see no way out, but after our efforts to solve the problem didn’t yield a solution, we prayed until we felt at peace about the situation and then left it in God’s hands.

To me, this was letting God take care of our daily needs—providing us with manna, you might say—and also trusting His will to lead all the parties involved to a good solution. We moved out of the condo, and left it vacant for a year. All the while, we had everything we needed.

Then we learned someone was interested in buying the condo. We hadn’t told anyone that we were interested in selling because it didn’t seem possible to get financing. But by this time a new company had acquired the mortgage and they were willing to negotiate the sale.

As a result, our financial slate was wiped clean. The condo complex was blessed by having the unit occupied. The new owner was thrilled to have her own home with a short commute to her work. There was no way we could have foreseen or planned this perfect solution for us all, but each step of the way, we had been cared for “now” even as events were carrying us forward to the point where we would have an opportunity to sell the condo.

God’s protection and power provide a strong basis for everyone’s daily activity. Living in the “now,” listening each moment for God’s direction and following it, makes His loving care a wonderful support for all activities. We don’t always know how the story will end, but we can trust that if we are obedient to the ideas we receive from God, the result will be more wonderful than we could ever plan.

Living in the now:

Science and Health
39:18-22
King James Bible
Ex. 16:15-20  
Matt. 6:34