The here and now

Spring is honestly one of my favorite seasons.  There is a fresh, new wonderful feeling when the snow melts, the trees sprout buds, grow leaves and the entire earth warms in a green wave.  Yet it is quite frankly the season that sneaks up on me and then is gone in a flash.  Not only do the leaves start with their buds, but there is a gigantic to-do list along with the bookings and shootings.  It is so easy to get caught up in the to-do work list, and the mundane things at home that just have to be done that it is easy to forget to live in the moment that God has placed me in.  I have been thinking this week about how in the month of March, I was just hoping and wishing for these days to be here, and now that they are, I can’t believe how fast they have slipped through my fingers.

Last night after my kindergartner graduated to first grade, and my second grader walked over the line to third grade, our family sat down to watch old movies of the kids when they were little.  I honestly could not believe how fast they had grown.  My husband and I sat watery-eyed as we watched our kids in one of the busiest, grueling, draining, hardest seasons of our life.  At that point we had a 4 year old, almost 2 year old,  and a newborn.  He had just begun full-time ministry and I was in the middle of one of my busiest wedding seasons.  Yet I remember thinking in the moment about the days when we would be out of that stage and on to the next phase of life.  How easy and less stressful it would be.

Now we are in that moment that I was dreaming of, and like the spring passing through my fingers, so has the time been with my own children.  I am in a constant state of thinking ahead of the next phase rather than just living and being in the moment.  It is a sobering place and one that I want to continue to discipline myself to stay in.  The here and now.  I remember the wiser people around me saying “Enjoy it now, because in a moment they are gone.”  At the time it was a simple nod of the head, a light smile, or a I’m trying-but-I really-want-it -to-end-now-so-I-can-sleep-again-think-again-have my pre-maternity body back again-look.  But fully not understanding what their years of knowledge had to offer me.

Friends, as I sit reflecting, I challenge you to continue living in the moment.  You may be in a tough season or an easy one.  A long road or a short one.  Dealing with loss or participating in joy.  Wanting that next job or overwhelmed with too much work.  Waiting for whatever it may be, you fill in the blank.  But it is where you are now.  It is the place you are supposed to be.  It is the here and now. A day that you are supposed to enjoy and remember.  So in this mundane June Thursday, wherever you are, enjoy it, embrace it, and know that it is the here and now and the place you are to be content.