Enjoying one moment at a time ….

If you ever wondered if you can ignore pleasure, watch a young boy (or a dog) eating cake! Years ago shortly after I was married, I had gone to Germany alone, and it was one of the few times I had been separated from my new wife. My host had taken us on a boat trip on Lake Constance, and the weather was beautiful. But I was missing my wife something something shocking. It was all I could think about, and the Lord spoke to me and asked me what I was doing!

They weren’t his words, but I was ignoring pleasure. And right there and then I decided to put aside my longing, and enjoy the scenery and the company.

The title of this post is a short extract from the longer version of the serenity prayer. It makes a lot of sense to both include this in the prayer, and for us to do our part in fulfilling that. It seems to be the default to either live in the past or in the future, but when we do this we miss out on so much.

It goes so much against the grain of our modern Western culture, where we concentrate on our rights, or on how offensive this or that is. The whole advertising industry is designed to make us dissatisfied with what we have, so that we will go our and buy, buy, buy! Part of learning to be content in whatsoever state I am in (Philippians 4:11) is learning to treasure the small things.

I have a friend who teaches violin, and she overheard her young student talking to her dad in the bathroom, and saying how much she liked her new violin teacher. She liked her more every time she met, and this was only the second meeting! So cute, so precious! Such moments are gifts to be treasured, but it’s so easy to take them granted.

Father, give me the grace that I need to enjoy one moment at a time, to fully live in the now. Please remind me when I forget, when I obsess on the things that I don’t have, or the pain of the past. Lead me Father, in the everlasting way. In Jesus Name Amen