SOCIAL MEDIA

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Grateful in the Now

 

I was praying the other day briefly, alone. Sometimes I self-evaluate. I go over what I’ve done or not done. I am a goal-oriented person. Accomplishing tasks or long term goals gives me a sense of satisfaction. 

This is a wonderful quality when it keeps me motivated and energized. It’s not great however, when I decide I am not accomplishing what I had hoped to that day, or by a certain time period. 

Here is the conclusion I came to while sitting before our Lord in His Eucharistic presence. 

Goals and dreams can be good to have, but sometimes they can suck the happiness out of your life. Sometimes you miss the good in front of you, because you’re dwelling on the good you wish you had. 

That’s not to say that the good thing, that goal, isn’t something you should aspire to, but maybe God has given you something right now to do, and if you skip it, your dreams may be a disappointment, or may have been fulfilled if you would just pour yourself into “the now”.  I think about my children, for example. The now for them, is mostly their education, growing in the mind and the heart. They have dreams that won’t just show up without the hard work that is necessary in their present circumstances. 

I was looking at beautiful art. And during prayer I had the thought, I wish I had the time to invest in creating beautiful things. And I heard “but what if you *are* creating beautiful things right now, in working on your relationships- your relationship with God, your family, your friendships, in trying to be a good example, in giving and loving? And what if the time spent on that will only enhance the dreams you have for the future, when the time is right?” 

And to be fair. I do have some time. But never what I in my mind, think I need, to make it worth the while. We all look at other things, not our life, and think “I wish I had____ or I wish I could do____”. It’s part of our fallen human nature. 

But let’s not let the things we dream of, and aspire to, suck the joy out of our present, and steal the good God has before us. Because He has a purpose for everything. And He can see what you cannot see, the things you need to learn and go through before that next milestone. 

God is a good God and loves to give us good things. He is also a giver of hopes and dreams. He IS the God of Hope. Look at what’s in front of you, and ask Him to show you “what’s the good you have for me right now?” -while He’s preparing good things for your future as well, and you trust Him to. 



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