The February 3, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young is rattling around in my head.
"Receive today's gift gratefully, unwrapping it tenderly and delving into its depths."
Why is it that even when I am reading a devotional I am praying and thinking and planning...not about today but about some elusive tomorrow? Why is it so difficult to purpose to live in the moment?
Sources tell us we are exposed to between 4 and 5 thousand ads per day. Our brains are tasked with processing the overload of information that enters via our senses every waking hour of the day.
"Receive today's gift gratefully, unwrapping it tenderly and delving into its depths."
Gratefully.
I barely remember to acknowledge all that I am grateful for...and there is so very much!
Tenderly.
It is difficult to tenderly unwrap a day, when you plow headlong into it every morning. Coffee to go, please!
Depths.
My days are a series of to-do lists. Check. Check. Check. Where is the depth to that?
I remember those early days of discovery with Hannah Hurnard's Hinds Feet on High Places, Oswald Chambers's, My Utmost for His Highest, Charles Monroe Sheldon's In His Steps. Like falling in love, the response as your soul is pricked with indescribable joy, awareness and discovery, is like waking from a long slumber. I long to return to that soulful consciousness again.
As I head into the second month of 2018, I pledge to let go of those things that keep me from waking up to what has been set before me each and every day. I vow to unwrap that gift thankfully and tenderly as I delve deeply into each precious day.
"Living in the moment involves a profound paradox: You can't pursue it for its benefits. That's because the expectation of reward launches a future-oriented mindset, which subverts the entire process. Instead, you just have to trust that the rewards will come. There are many paths to mindfulness—and at the core of each is a paradox. Ironically, letting go of what you want is the only way to get it." Jay Dixit, Psychology Today.
Lord, help me to be attentive to the moment. Savoring it with intention. Amen
Photo courtesy Ray Hennessy on Unsplash