“Stop now. Enjoy the moment. It’s now or never.” ~ Maxime Lagace
I have a friend who is rather spontaneous. I am a planner. We vacation together at the beginning of every year. And every year, it is the same. I ask him to commit to what days he is coming down so that I can make reservations for dinners. I make the reservations at 180 days out because there are many restaurants that cannot be booked as the time gets closer. Yet, there are times I cannot even get what restaurants he might like to go to at that mark. The same holds for flights. I arrange our pick up and return to the airport. I book my flights as soon as the booking window opens. He books a month or so ahead of the actual trip.
Being a planner, I am in the position to claim more than a fair bit of frustration. I want to know things way ahead of time. (As a matter of fact, as I was writing this, I thought, “The booking window for my return flight should be open now” and I just went to Southwest Airlines and booked my January 17th flight home.) I want to plan for things as well as plan for alternatives in case the original plan fails. Sometimes, I have my head squarely in that which is going to happen months away and fail to see what is happening right here, right now.
In order to keep myself somewhat rooted in the here and now, I begin every day when I am opening the chapel or when I am getting ready for my morning Mass by speaking to the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle and saying, “Thank you, Lord, for another day of life.” It might seem a bit simplistic; however, it forces me to quit thinking about the rest of the day and, instead, taking that very moment to be with the Lord. As I walk away from the tabernacle, I ask Him to watch over my day and help me to make the right decisions. I usually ask for pardon, as well, for the poor decisions I may have made the day before.
It is difficult to keep oneself centered. In today’s hectic world, there are so many distractions that come our way. There are so many options and opportunities. There are so many invitations. Yet, most of those are options, opportunities, and invitations that lead us away from God rather than toward Him. In all the planning we do, as well as in our spontaneous decisions, we need to ask God to be a part of our deliberations so that we opt for the right thing.
It helps us to keep centered if we begin our day in praise and gratitude to God.
FAITH ACTION: God sustained your life yet another day. Stop whatever it is you were about to do and take some time to thank God for this very moment.