Song of Solomon 2:7 – I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. (KJV)

James 5:7 – Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. (KJV)

Last year, from February to August, family and close-friend weddings took us to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Alberta, Canada; Sicily, Italy; and to one that was a half-hour ride from home.

We also had our "regular" lives to fit in between these times of travel.

The wedding in Italy, being the last of the bunch, was in late August, and even before the first one in February, the trip to Italy seemed to be the focus of any folks who knew about it, so we were constantly being barraged with questions like "Aren't you excited?!"

It has long been my practice to "live in the moment", to enjoy each day as it is given. It's something I learned from volunteering with people who knew they didn't have long to live. And so, any excitement I felt was for the moment in which I was living, for in being excited about things that are not yet come, much less even near, we greatly diminish what we have at hand. My excitement for Italy would come when I was there, but in the meantime, I had grandchildren, family, and friends to enjoy, as well as work and volunteering; in other words, daily life.

This could be compared to being so focused, so excited about when Christ may come again, or conversely, about when we take our final "trip" or journey, that we don't really enjoy each day we spend on earth. Yes, we can keep it close to our hearts and work towards those goals in our daily lives — but we need to centre ourselves on all that God gives us on a daily basis, or the gift of the day is gone.

Prayer: Lord, help us to learn to live in the moment, to appreciate the things we are given on a daily basis. In our looking forward to things to come, help us not to negate the gifts we are given now. In Your name we pray and give thanks for this day. Amen.

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About the author:

Mary Daniel <marydee@shaw.ca>
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
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