Squandering the Present

Are you squandering the life you are living? What do I mean?

Do you find yourself reliving happy moments of the past, better times that you wish were here? Maybe you are missing a period from your life to the point that your thoughts and even words always go back there? Or maybe you are reliving a bad event or time, constantly living with regret or shame?

Maybe it is the future that trips you up? You think, “I’ll be happy when …” (fill in the blank). Or maybe you spend the majority of your time planning for a future event, consumed by it? Maybe you spend a lot of time worrying about your future or someone you love’s future?

If you answered “yes” to any of these, I believe you are squandering your present life.

Living in the Past

I confess, I sometimes find my self in cycles where I do both. One minute I am going along, happy as can be. Then something happens that takes my mind back to a past event. It haunts me. I become imprisoned by my thoughts. Because my thought life keeps me reliving the past, I lose sight of all the good presently.

The past is the past. Although we cannot change the past, we can definitely learn from it.

Living in the Future

Where the past haunts me, my future thoughts trip me up by giving me anxiety.

We have no control over the future. Worrying about anything in the future will get us nowhere. We can do our part today to prepare for the future without allowing it to consume our time. The key here is balance.

Living in the Present

How do I break the hold my thoughts can have over me?

I make an intentional effort to change them, to focus on who I am today because of the lessons learned from my past. I think of all that I am grateful for, take note of the beauty around me, and blessings in my life. For future concerns, I verbally remind myself to stay in the present, knowing God knows and sees the big picture, trusting He will reveal to me day-by-day, minute-by-minute what I need to do to bring my future to fruition.

Ask God for Help

And therein lies the key for me. I rely on God and ask for His help to free my mind from its imprisonment. Knowing He created me, loves me, and wants what is best for me, I am assured He will help me. He is just waiting for me to call out to Him.

When I am unable to live in the present by my own accord, I turn to God. I ask that He release the thoughts from my mind and to protect my mind from the enemy. I know it is the enemy who wants me to be stuck in this place of regret, sorrow, shame, ungratefulness, anxiety, or lack of trust in God’s plan for my life. The enemy wants me to believe I do not matter and he definitely does not want me to turn to God for anything.

I know I matter to God and I know you matter to Him too. He created me and He created you. We are all unique and beautifully designed. God wants us to see ourselves through His eyes, not the enemy’s. He wants us to live each day we are given to its fullest.

I thank God for loving me, for desiring a relationship with me, and for the good in my life that He has blessed me with. I am grateful that He has abounding love for each one of us.

Let us not squander the present. May we love, lament, laugh and be a light to others. May we embrace the present with our eyes wide open, making the most of each day we are given.

Prayer