Wednesday, December 6, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Be here now
My heart is moved with pity for the crowd.
Not my heart could be, my heart would be, my heart was, or my heart will be. No, Jesus’ heart is moved with pity for the crowd right now.
At Vineyard, we learned to pray in the moment. “Can I pray for you right now?”
At Promise Keepers we learned to pray for each person in our family in person in their presence, out loud, every day.
What better time? If not now, when? Prayers matter. So we will pray out loud, right now, over and over, throughout our lives. We will pray in the presence of those we are praying for.
Sounds great. Sounds like what Jesus does.
On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations, he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces. Behold our God, this is the Lord for whom we looked! Let us rejoice and be glad that he saved us.
Now and not yet?
Henri Nouwen has something say about this.
The real enemies of our life are the “oughts” and the “ifs.” They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future. But real life takes place in the here and the now. God is a God of the present. God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful or painful. When Jesus spoke about God, he always spoke about God as being where and when you are. “When you see me, you see God. When you hear me, you hear God.” God is not someone who was or will be, but the One who is, and who is for me in the present moment. That’s why Jesus came to wipe away the burden of the past and the worries of the future. He wants us to discover God right where we are, here and now.
I watch Miles at the chess tournament shake off the last game quickly, win or lose. He looks around at all the other kids playing and running and throwing a football or soccer ball, and he finds a way to join in. He has no trouble hanging out in the moment.
We watch Jasper finding something to do and be in the moment. When he can’t, he will say, “What can we do, Grandpa?” Or once in awhile, “I’m bored.” Those moments are very short. When he and Miles are together, those moments are non-existent. They might even make faces out of salami and corn on the cob during lunch.
I gave the book away, but one of my favorites was a thick compendium of Calvin and Hobbes comic strips, The Days Are Just Packed.
Yeah. Packed. Jesus might have written that book, for sure.
(Isaiah 25, Psalm 23, Matthew 15)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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