I savor summer evenings.
As the heat of the day cools becoming a summer evening, it brings moments that I enjoy. Lightening bugs impatiently glow in the night. It’s a perfect time to sit in the swing with iced tea just living in the moment.
The background noise of crickets is relaxing. And all I think about is my tea.
My wife, Nancy, used to occasionally ask, “What are you thinking about?” “Nothing.” She was always suspicious that I was lost deep in thought or keeping secrets.
It was a long time before I convinced her that I really was sitting there thinking nothing.
She says that only men can sit there and think nothing.
I prefer to think of it as “living in the moment”. Living in the moment is just simply enjoying your surroundings. It is not about the past or planning tomorrow. It is just being there in the present.
We humans are not very good at living in the moment. It is hard for us to just “be.” I contend that we are meant to be “human-beings”, not “human-doings.”
Living in the moment doesn’t mean all is crickets and fireflies. There are also dive-bombing mosquitoes. That’s life. Crickets and mosquitoes. Good and bad. Pluses and minuses. All mixed together.
You can’t savor the moment without experiencing it all. (That doesn’t stop me from using mosquito spray.)
If we live in the past or live in the future, we miss today. Living in the moment we unwrap God’s gift of the “present.”
How can we enjoy the moment?
Don’t live in yesterday’s “to do” list. The regrets, grudges, unfinished business, can rob you of today. Let God wash that stuff away. Make sure that everything is settled and put away. No matter how we try, we can’t live yesterday.
Don’t live in tomorrow’s “to do” list. Jesus teaches us that there is enough to deal with today. Does that mean not planning for the future? Absolutely not. Only a fool would not plan for the future. Just don’t live there.
Have you ever heard, “when we get married I’ll spend more time with you.”
“When the babies come, we will spend time raising the babies together.”
“When we don’t have to change diapers and our kids are teens, then we can do things together.”
“When our nest empties, it will just be you and me.”
“When we retire we will have all the time in the world.”
“I’m busier now that I’m retired, wait, where did you go?”
Don’t live in yesterday or tomorrow. Live today. Enjoy the moment.
I’m going now; I think I hear crickets. For those who love summer: “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. “(Jeremiah 17:7-8)
