The Now

Explaining the unearthly paradox of time would be an appropriate introduction for this blog. I tell you truth I can't do it. I can't narrow Now down to a fractional portion of any sort of numerical measurement. I can't properly analogize the existence of the present or make you or I understand the way it simultaneously becomes the past and the future. Oh, but I can warn you of this extant moment's deceptive ways. I can illustrate how it clouds our hope and greater good. With a little help I can do it in two points.

1. We are all familiar with some kind of unpleasantry. Anything ranging from discomfort to pain (physical, emotional, or spiritual) will drive our minds to long for a better Now. But what will you trade for it? It's staggering what the world would trade for a better Now. What we are forgetting to take into account, or simply ignoring, is our greatest justice, the Ends. Here I borrow wisdom from well-know, Christian pop group, Relient K, who reminds us in their song Let it All Out, that "If the burden seems too much to bear remember the end will justify the pain it took to get us there." The reward for a proper, though sometimes "unbearable," Now is a uncompareably "worth-it" Later . I reckon often with the bother of those who can't seem to look further down the street to where the hard work and pain may have paid off where it came. I'm not excluding myself. It's tempting just to put off the suffering for now. Tomorrow always more attractive than today in our future-darkened views. So we procrastinate the trials as long as we can, but eventually they will catch up with us and dig in with a long-starved appetite. The truth is there isn't a better time than now to face what comes with this moment in time. As Robert Louis Stevenson said, "You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?"

For my second point I have asked the ever-inspirational, thought-provoking, and startling visionary Sarah Jane Murray whose blogs you can find at (http://mitiocbygrace.blogspot.com/) to share her heart. Her "square of thoughts" on the subject of not "settling for less" are as follows:

2. "Why Lord, do we not struggle, sweat, weep, and wait for that which is to come? We are human that is true. Oh but the riches you have for us are worth far more than our strain. I have done it and I've heard people do the same. We give spiels, set goals, and dig our heels into the ground where we stand. We say "I will never..." with great intention to keep those statements. More often though we take little pleasures wrapped in our arms in a moment. We forget the standards we promised to keep. They were wealthy in thought and came bubbling from our soul. But when our words come to the table where they are called to act, we lose it all. Take a runner for thought. The contestant trains amply for the race ahead. With his heart ready to pump blood through his veins and to his lungs oxygen. The gun fires and he is off. Now he is beating the pavement with every haunting step of the runners behind. Some run to take the gold metal home. That runner perseveres through the pain and sweat to win. But it's much easier to be a sideline racer with a cheer. But you were meant to be in the race. Comfort stops the most audacious fulfillment seekers. They build up their future at night within their mind. But then morning brings the bright sun to their sleepy eyes. They instantly pocket themselves comfortably back into the pillow. Your future starts with a good dose of love. Love for Jesus Christ! Forsaking all other lovers to run to win the heavenly prize. The pleasures that lure you away with luscious colors will fall dim before your eyes. And the comforts we are given are deceptive. Your comfort will rely on the stats of this world. In turn you will have traded your future written by your Abba God for an average script never intended for you, His very Beloved."

Undoubtedly these words, so poetically put, have triggered a conviction in your heart. How often can you recall taking what is right in front of you in trade for what you know you deserve? The tangibility of it all is a seducing prospect. It's in the End that you will truly see what you have forsaken.

All this is not to say that the Now is not an important time. If you constantly look to the future you may just miss where you are now. It's a trying paradox. You cannot waste the Now away, nor can you let it fool you into a state of stagnant. You cannot abandon what is the best and always be looking for more, but you can't settle for what isn't quite over par. Truly you'll know if you have saved a pain or trial for later, or if you are settling for what is not a full wage. Be honest with yourself at all times and make the right choices and the Now will not coax in your demise.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this presenttime are not worthy to be compared with theglory which shall be revealed in us.”

Romans 8:18