Way back when I was a junior in college — don’t ask how long ago that was! — I got together with the RA from my freshman year. Already out in the work world for a couple of years, she seemed wordly-wise — and weary. “Grab hold of every minute you’re in college,“ she said. “That experience will never come around again.”
I’m not sure if she was giving me advice or mourning the end of her own college years. Perhaps a bit of both. But the fact is that every moment of life I experience will never come around again. Am I grabbing hold of them?
As I start meeting face-to-face again with friends, I find I’m grabbing onto the present moment more intentionally because I have missed those gatherings SO much! And I’m glad for the reminder to fully inhabit each moment with all my heart, soul, mind and strength — with every fiber of my being, with all of my senses.
Could this be part of what Jesus meant in saying he came to give us life in abundance? (John 10:10) It’s impossible to list all the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, thoughts and experiences that God created for us in this amazing world. I want to be awake, alive, alert, aware.
Sometimes being in the present moment is simply being committed wholeheartedly to what I’m doing; I’m focused, intent, concentrating. Sometimes it’s taking a little step back and drinking it all in: Wow, look at that color. Did you hear that bird? This tastes so good.
There’s times to reflect on the past and times to plan for the future. But there are so many moments of “now.” I don’t want to miss them.
Judy Straalsund