The Precious Present

The Present

“What comes next? The answer is: we never know. No matter how smart we are, how carefully we have planned, or how much data we have gathered, we are still only mortals who can never control the future. We live in the now, in the eternally changing series of spaces we call the present. The now is where we shine. In the now, we can have an impact, be creative, shape reality, and build relationships that can withstand change. What happens tomorrow may always be a surprise, but what happens today can still feel our presence. In fact, we are the artists of the now. We can turn a moment into a memory, a glance into a promise, an idea into a vision that will last forever.” —Steven Charleston Daily Facebook Page.

capturing the present moment. Joanna Campbell

I think I became aware of the gift of living in the present moment in the 1980s, when I bought Spencer Johnson’s 80-page book, The Precious Presence, as a Christmas present for my husband and decided to read it first. It is a practical parable of a man living in our fast-paced world trying to find meaning and peace, opening the most precious present. Later, during my self-help period, I would read two more of Spencer’s books, The One Minute Manager and Who Moved the Cheese, trying to cope with the demands of a busy pediatric radiology practice.

Then, I was reminded again of the power of living in the present when I read from C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters that God meets us only in the present moment. “The Present is the point at which time touches eternity.” This is where God lives in our lives. God is not in the past or the future, but is there to greet us in the present moment.

 How do we stay in the present moment?  Anthony DeMello in Sadhana teaches us that living in our body and not living out of our head keeps us grounded in the present moment. Likewise, spending time in nature connects us to the present.

Being with children keeps us in the present. Children live there and invite us into all its possibilities. We set up a creche with nativity figures that increase each week in Advent in our narthex or entrance or lobby area of our church. Most adults hurry right by it, but almost all the children stop and look and even want to touch it.

In this new year, may we learn to live into the miracles that happen in the present moment, every day, every moment, every second.

Telling Secrets

Buechner, Lewis: Telling Secrets

“I have come to believe that by and large, the human family all has the same secrets, which are both very telling and very important to tell. They are telling in the sense that they tell what is perhaps the central paradox of our condition—that what we hunger for perhaps more than anything else is to be known in our full humanness, and yet that is often just what we also fear more than anything else.”—Frederick Buechner in Telling Secrets, Buechner Quote of the Day.

In Telling Secrets, Buechner reminds us that we are often like the dwarves in the stable in The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. We do not see the good or realize the beauty around us, but live trapped by our dark secrets. We are as sick as our secrets and can only get well by airing these secrets, if only in our own hearts. Like the dwarves, we live huddled together in what we think is a cramped, pitch-black, dark stable with little room to breathe. In reality, we are amidst an endless green meadow where the sun shines and the sky is blue. Aslan himself (God) stands there offering freedom, but the dwarves cannot see him and only see each other.

 We are our secrets, and sharing them with a trusted spiritual friend has much to do with the mystery of staying connected to the God within us and honoring our humanness.

One year, our former rector, Danny Schieffler, sent me this quote from John Dutton of the television series “Yellowstone.” “Secrets are like callouses on the heart. If you have enough of them, pretty soon, you can’t feel anything.”

What secrets are we carrying into the new year that will keep us in the dark and prevent us from feeling our connection to God, our neighbor, and our true selves?  

The Christ Child Within Being Born Out of Our Heart of Stone

The Christ Child Within being born out of Our Heart of Stone

 “I realize that the only way for us to stay well in the midst of the many “worlds” is to stay close to the small, vulnerable child that lives in our hearts and in every other human being. Often, we do not know that the Christ child is within us. When we discover him, we can truly rejoice.”—Henri Nouwen in You Are the Beloved (Convergent Books 2017).

This image of the Christ Child coming out of stone by the sculptor Mike Chapman is under the portico entrance from Trafalgar Square to St. Martin-in-the-Fields. It remains one of our best images of the Christ Child within. When I first saw it, it took my breath away. But, unfortunately, this image does not do it justice. Every time I visit London, I am drawn to it. It represents Christ’s birth to the world, and the birth of Christ within us out of our hearts of stone.

I hear the prayer to Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (36:26).”

When our heart of stone is removed, we find Christ within.

How does this feat occur? First, we are touched by the God of love. Most often, this God of love reaches us through the love of another person. It can also happen in reading, writing, being by water or trees, or any of God’s creations that emit love. Our job is to put ourselves in a position to connect to the God of love through spiritual practices and our living in community. We are called to open our eyes, live in the present, and see the love of God coming out of stone and healing the stone heart within us and in the world, especially during this Christmas season.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/