Live in the Glorious Now

I was reading an article not long ago by a former Buddhist monk. I’ll have to admit that isn’t normally within my reading habit, but what he said captivated me. I often speak out about the danger of the smart phone, what it is doing to our minds, but the writer spoke of the number of times we choose notifications over presence.

How many times have I sat with my beautiful wife across the table and found it hard to focus because I’m more worried about the score of a game or some strangers response to my social media post? I chose notification over presence and that choice doesn’t come without consequence.

Let’s be honest, this isn’t just a problem for adolescents or teens. I often sit in doctor’s waiting rooms with my dad and watch senior adults doing the doomscroll. I’ve spent time with grown men who just can’t seem to go a minute without picking up their phone. When I make the conscious choice to leave my phone in the car, I often feel like an alien on another planet!

I remember taking my youngest daughter out to dinner and watching a couple come in with what I would guess to be their granddaughter. She was young, but content with the colors and paper the restaurant brought to the table. I just glanced over and smiled remembering the time that the young lady across the table from me was doing that very thing, but then the grandmother did the most remarkable and disturbing thing…she took the paper and crayons away and gave the child her i-phone with videos cued up. She sat glued to the phone the rest of the time. The child didn’t ask for the phone, she wasn’t restless, she was enjoying a moment of creativity and that was stolen by a mindless video.

The grandmother chose entertainment over creativity. She lost the moment to engage and create and chose the easy means of wasted time. The moment was right there in front of her…as it is right in front of us.

A few weeks ago, I woke up, checked my phone to see what time it was and instead of putting it down, I scrolled. Not for long, but long enough. I got and went outside to read my Bible and spend time with the Lord and I just couldn’t focus. My brain was in a fog. I started a mental checklist…did I go to bed early, did I sleep well, did I…and I realized the only difference was I started with a scroll instead of time in the Word. It made a difference in my ability to focus and absorb.

I chose notifications and lost a sense of presence. How many times do we let screens rob us or what is right in front of us? This morning I was reading one of the Psalms and I heard a Carolina Wren singing and it seemed like she was right there…I looked up to the power line where she often sits and she wasn’t there, I looked over to the tree where she often hides and she wasn’t in an obvious place, and then I saw her fly by…she was sitting on a chair right across from me…she does that sometimes, but I missed it. How many times have I missed the manifest presence of God simply because I’m choosing the world’s notifications?

Here is the problem, we don’t live in the present. We are always looking for something that is coming, something that will be better. The monk said, we wait for the promotion to feel successful, the vacation to feel relaxed, the weekend to feel alive, but “life isn’t happening in those future moments, it is happening right now!”

I don’t know about you, but that stings me. I have a tendency to “keep treating right now as a waiting room for something better.” I’m “anxious about tomorrow” when “tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Jesus!)

Jesus said that in the context of worry, but could I put it into the context of presence? Don’t waste this moment, live in the moment you are given. Don’t ignore eternity, live in the now with eternity in mind, but realize this moment is a part of eternity…make the most of it!

Every moment doesn’t have to be extraordinary…throwing the ball with my grandson, watching a hummingbird feed, enjoying a sunset or a flower in bloom…ordinary moments that are simply extraordinary. If every moment is lived in my waiting room looking for something better, I will miss the best moment and one day look back and have a past full of regrets.

So, put down the phone, turn off the notifications, cancel some social media accounts, and learn to live in the glorious moment of right now!