Hey y’all!
It’s almost “officially” summer… I mean Florida is basically summer six months out of the year. Summertime is full of lots of memories to be made. Growing up my family always went to the beach once every summer once my sister got married and some of my greatest summer memories from that. We also did vacation bible school at my church and once I graduated from being a kid who attended, I was a volunteer. All the planning, and getting ready for the week of working with the kids was always the most fun. Fourth of July parties, sleepovers, and so many things shaped everything that I look back on and smile but it all required something of me, being present. I had to live in the moment to have a memory to look back on. Sometimes people get caught up in the mundane, the schedules, and the consistency of life that we don’t take a step back to be present in not just the big moments but the small ones too.
Be Present, Don't Miss Out
In high school, I was a very caught-up person, and honestly, I was in college too. It was always on Mondays I had this, Tuesdays were laid out like this, and so on. I would be present… sometimes… But there were moments I missed out on. I’ve blinked and my little sister is now 11 turning 12. I’ve called my dad and said I wished I took more time to sit on the couch with him when I was coming home late from all my activities in high school instead of going straight for a bowl of cereal and locking myself in my room to study until ungodly hours. I experienced a lot of fun moments, but I missed moments worth creating too.
When I moved to Tampa for college a series of events occurred that kept me only looking towards the future for a season. In reality, the season I was waiting for was 3-4 years away. That’s when I started to be hit by reality. I learned that sitting waiting just makes for self-pity parties and memories not worth looking back on. I remember one day saying that my internal sadness was not worth sitting in. Not that I was shutting down emotions but that I can take charge of how I feel and what I do with what I feel. Yes, the situation at hand saddened my heart but made me excited for the adventure God was taking me on. I didn’t want to say I wasted 4 years of my life sitting around and being sad or anxious about what was to come in the best and worst ways. Instead, I picked my head up and chose joy, I chose to have fun, and I chose to make as many memories as possible. One of the verses I have embedded into my memory these days is from Matthew 6:34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Because of that, I went kayaking with my best friends, I visited Disney, I made Christmas time and birthdays special with and for my roommates, I made memories, I laughed, I cried. When I drove to work the other day I texted my best friend and told her, "thank you for making special memories the past few years because I look back at it and I don’t see regret or pain. I see making every single day count including the off ones."
Present with the Lord
The most important thing about being in the present is that you focus on what the Lord is doing now. What is He doing in you now? What is He speaking to you now? Oftentimes God will show us a glimpse of what’s to come and if we get hung up on what’s coming we’re missing the steps it takes to get there. You have to trust the Lord to guide your steps. We get caught up trying to organize the way we think we need to get to point Z. We think about what we need to save up, what we need to make room for, and what we need to bring into our routines. Though, all those things are important. Plan, but plan with the Holy Ghost. Trust the Lord. A lot of the time the way we think we need to get somewhere isn’t the answer. Sometimes we think we need to have everything we need for the next thing God has placed in our hearts but a lot of times you need to just go from where you are and let the Lord do what He does best. He provides and guides. Proverbs 16:9 says “We can make our plans, but the Lord orders our steps.”
I remember being so hung up on what God wanted to do in my life I almost went to the wrong college because it was the route that would get me there easiest and quickest but I would’ve lacked so much had I gone where I originally intended. It took a lot of humility to go to my parents and say, “I was wrong, I’m changing schools.” It was hard. I was a big planner and I was thankful the Lord got me to Florida but where I thought I would go in Florida wasn’t where He needed me. Once I became open-minded after shutting down an idea often. I mean people were always saying “but what about this school?” or “have you considered this school” and I would say no or that maybe after I finish the original college I was heading towards. It was hard for me to change but I knew it was what the Lord needed me to do so I was obedient. It wasn’t an easy transition since it was so speedy. First I thought I was moving into my dorm in two days and instead I was reversing my family’s first payment for my tuition and moving into an apartment.
I had to be willing to open my mind, be where I was, and listen. I could’ve visited the college I got my degree from that week before switching schools and said “I’m just here to be here” and not have even given it a thought but I decided to sit, listen, press in, and that was when I listened. It changed everything. I’m doing things now I couldn’t even imagine at the age of 5, 10, or 15, let alone when I turned 20. I was thinking so small and it was so wrong of me to box God and the only thing I could’ve gotten to where I am now or to where I’m even going and say I can only have these things or get there if I do it this way because this is what makes sense or because I would have my hand in the equation. I had to back off and let the Lord do it. I had to surrender it. I had to be present and listen. I couldn’t just be going through the motions. I couldn’t try to control it all.
Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take."
Be Here, Listen Now, Tomorrow Will Come
What you do today greatly shapes your tomorrow. What you say today greatly shapes the life you walk into the next day. You need to live in today for tomorrow to get there. Don’t worry about tomorrow until it gets there. You can miss so much just because you’re trying to figure every little detail out for the next day when everything you need can be found in the now, in the way the Lord is showing you things today. One of my favorite songs called Earth by Sarah Juers who is a contemporary Christian artist said these lines in the song.
"I just want to live there on the ground. See all the sights, hear all the sounds. Feel the dirt under my feet. Taste the beauty of the life they breathe."
She paints a story about wanting to be present here on earth but the mind being concerned and up in space but she realizes the Lord is holding her and has everything in control and she just needs to be present. Be where you’re at and be there in the best way possible. Listening, loving, trusting. Enjoy life and don't let the good ole days be what you look back to, you're living in it now so make it count.
