Life is all about relationships. All relationships begin with an encounter. Every encounter happens only in the present. Living the moment means being totally present in the here and now. Often, impatience gets the better of me and I would rather be off to another place or doing another thing rather than being in the moment. How many possible encounters have I missed because of my impatience? How many possible relationships failed to bloom because I was not in the moment but elsewhere in my thoughts or busyness?
I can sometimes spend time reminiscing my past joys and accomplishment and start pining for the good old days and miss out on the present moment. I can sometimes be so embittered by past regrets and disappointments that I pass on present joys. I can sometimes spend my time in the future, waiting for something that I like to happen and miss the present opportunity to make that which I like to happen. The present is my only reality. Yesterday with all its joys and sorrows and wonderful memories is gone. Tomorrow with all its dreams and potentials is not yet. Only the present is here for me to work on, to enjoy my past and to make my future a reality.
It is also only in the here and now that I encounter God. God is beyond time and space. He is in the continuum and the at-once-ness of eternity. But it is in the reality of my here and now that he comes to meet me. Just as he met his apostles on their first encounter – their then present moment with him.
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” John 1:43-51