{"id":929,"date":"2017-10-02T01:56:04","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T01:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=929"},"modified":"2024-11-04T14:37:48","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T19:37:48","slug":"stay-present-my-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=929","title":{"rendered":"Stay Present my Friends (Re-published – In the Moments Series)."},"content":{"rendered":"

And now<\/strong>, O Lord, for what do I wait?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>My hope is in you.<\/span><\/span><\/em> Psalm \u00a039:7<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think?\u201d a voice interrupts your thoughts.<\/p>\n

Suddenly you’re brought back to the present. Your spouse, your child, your friend has been sharing something important, but you were thinking about what was next on your never ending to-do list. You have no idea what they just said.\u00a0 Busted!<\/p>\n

On another occasion you miss a magical moment on your family vacation because you’re dwelling on a regret from your past.<\/p>\n

God has given us five sense to bring awareness of His creation around us.\u00a0 These senses are available now<\/strong>, not yesterday, not tomorrow, \u00a0but now<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What are some of your favorites when it comes to your senses?<\/p>\n

For me:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sight: \u00a0<\/strong>Sunset or sunrise over water or mountains<\/p>\n

Sound: \u00a0<\/strong>Water rushing past rocks in a mountain stream<\/p>\n

Smell: \u00a0<\/strong>Tea olive, gardenias<\/p>\n

Touch: \u00a0<\/strong>Sea breeze, fall wind in my face, soft sheets<\/p>\n

Taste: \u00a0C<\/strong>hocolate pie, dark coffee<\/p>\n

When we savor now<\/strong>, we’re enjoying \u00a0a gift<\/strong> from God. A lady on a plane once told me that\u2019s why now is called the present<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an old movie entitled \u201cOur Town\u201d which drives this point home.<\/p>\n

One of the characters named, Emily, dies while giving birth to a child. However, she is permitted by the stage manager to revisit the past and to step back into the morning of her sixteenth birthday as an observer.<\/p>\n

From her vantage point, she has a profoundly nostalgic appreciation of the transient beauty of life\u2019s little moments. However, she is struck by how the people, including her younger self, don\u2019t have a clue how precious the moments of life really are. She is stunned that nobody savors and fully appreciates \u201cnow\u201d. They all seem so disengaged. Later she would say of the living, \u201cThey don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBrethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,\u201d[1]<\/a> Paul<\/p>\n

\u201cSo do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.\u201d[2]<\/a> Jesus<\/p>\n

God doesn\u2019t want us to be imprisoned by the regrets of our past nor fears of our future. He wants us to be present with Him moment by moment.<\/p>\n

Jesus tells us in John 15 to \u201cabide\u201d in Him. Other meanings of this word are to \u201ctarry\u201d or \u201cstay present with.\u201d Jesus goes on to say in the same chapter that there is complete joy found in \u201cstaying present\u201d in His love and loving others as He has loved us.<\/p>\n

Staying present with Jesus is essential to our Spiritual lives and it leads to experiencing and savoring life’s moments. Otherwise, life quickly passes us by.<\/p>\n

Challenge: \u00a0<\/strong>Take notice of what you see and hear right this moment. Do you smell anything? Perhaps you’re drinking a cup of coffee and feel a gentle breeze upon your face like I’m experiencing as I write.<\/p>\n

What tends to call you away from being fully present? Is it a looming duty, a past regret, a worry about the future? Whatever it is robs you of fully embracing the gift of now<\/strong>. Give these things to God and don’t take them back.<\/p>\n

The people in our lives are loved and cared for during life’s “nows”. In an instant our present moments become memories. When we savor our times with the people God places in our path there’s a richness which touches our hearts and slows the swirl of life.<\/p>\n

But what’s most important is being present with God. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of Jesus and we are never alone. God is in us and around us. We are in Him and He is in us.<\/p>\n

Tarry, remain, abide in Jesus. His presence is experienced now.<\/p>\n

In your presence is fullness of joy.<\/em> Psalm 16:11 b<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Philippians 3:13<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Matthew 6:34<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?\u00a0\u00a0My hope is in you. Psalm \u00a039:7 \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d a voice interrupts your thoughts. Suddenly you’re brought back to the present. Your spouse, your child, your friend has been sharing something important, but you were thinking about what was next on your never ending to-do … Continue reading Stay Present my Friends (Re-published – In the Moments Series).<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[455],"tags":[41,477,478,469,475,472,467,40,39,460,20,44,463,465,464,466,468,307,42,470,476,461,456,459,473,462,457,471,458,474],"class_list":["post-929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staying-present-with-god","tag-abide","tag-chocolate","tag-coffee","tag-destracted","tag-fall-wind","tag-gardenia","tag-gift","tag-god-presence","tag-gods-nearness","tag-hear","tag-jesus","tag-john-15","tag-lifes-moments","tag-now","tag-our-town","tag-present","tag-psalm-11824","tag-psalm-1611","tag-remain","tag-savor","tag-sea-breeze","tag-see","tag-sences","tag-smell","tag-sunset","tag-tarry","tag-taste","tag-tea-olive","tag-touch","tag-waterfall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=929"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6395,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929\/revisions\/6395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}