Present to the Moment: Addressing Inner Drivenness

Gooseberry Falls

Unless the Lord builds the house,
  its builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city
  the watchmen stand guard in vain.
In vain you rise early
  and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat –
  for he grants sleep to those he loves.
  -Psalm 127:1-2

In order to be present to God in the present moment, we must step back from much of our frenetic pace of life. When we try to step off the merry-go-round, however, we begin to find out just how difficult that is! Our attempts to slow down will always fail unless we address our inner drivenness and the anxiety that fuels it.

We are anxious about so many things—our finances, our health, our security, our family, our friends, our future. Many are afraid of failing; others are afraid of success! When we monitor the thoughts in the back of our minds, we find that far too many of them dwell on worry.

Jesus knew that, which is why he said: “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? . . . And why do you worry about your clothes? See how the lilies of the field brow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like on the these. . . . So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we eat?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father know that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:25-33)

Jesus gets to the root of the matter: our anxious thoughts and hearts. We are afraid that if we don’t take care of ourselves, no one will. Certainly we have responsibility, but our fears drive us to do much more.

Resting in the Goodness of our Shepherd
For good reason Scripture refers to us as sheep. On our own we are helpless. We tend to get ourselves lost very quickly. We go about nervously “Bah-ing” for help unless we have someone to take care of us.

As an anxious, pathetic sheep—more often than I’d like to admit—I need to continually entrust my life to the Good Shepherd. The more I can see the Lord as my active, present Shepherd, the more I can begin to relax inside. I don’t need to be the one to take care of myself. He knows where the next green pasture for me is—I don’t!

“The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep … I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me.” (John 10)

In a beautiful sermon on this passage from John 10, Johannes Tauler invites us to become trusting sheep. For those who abandon their lives to the Lord, “The doorkeeper opens for them and lets them go completely into the Father’s unfathomable depths. There they go everywhere in and out, always finding plentiful pasture. They sink into the depths of the Godhead with inexpressible enjoyment and then go out full of love. . . . There work and rest become one.” [1]

Work and Rest Become One
At times I have experienced work and rest becoming one—it is wonderful! Although I am working hard, I am so much at peace within. Mentally I am fully present to the task at hand. Instead of wondering if I’m doing the job right or what others will think, I am simply at rest. Knowing that I am being obedient to the Lord in my task at hand—and knowing that he is pleased with me—I leave the results up to him.

[1] Johannes Tauler Predigten: Vollständige Ausgabe, edited by Georg Hofmann (Freiburg: Herder, 1961), sermon 27.

© 2011 Glenn E. Myers

Present to the Moment: Gratefulness

Tettegouche State Park

The more present I am to the moment, the more attentive I become to all that surrounds me. I begin to see people—I mean really see them. When I am attentive to others, I am surprised by gracious interactions with those close to me as well as those who just grace my life for a moment. Someone smiles as I pass by. An acquaintance asks if he or she can pray for me. A friend sends and email asking how I am doing. A loved one ends a phone call with the words, “I love you.” All of these touch me with God’s love—if I am present to the moment to receive them.

As well as seeing people with fresh eyes, I begin to notice anew the beauty of God’s creation. Last week Sharon and I spent six days on the north shore of Lake Superior. What rugged beauty! The shades of green and blooming Lupine were spectacular as we took drives up the shoreline several days. Other days we spent our whole time sitting on the rocks near our cabin. Simply watching the birds and the large ships pass by, or listen to the waves as we spent time reading, it was a wonderful time of refreshment and healing.

What happens when I become present to the moment and truly see the beauty of God’s creation? The more I notice the blessings around me, the more thankfulness grows in my heart. I become grateful. Often it begins simply by noticing the flowers and birds and colors that a day earlier I was not seeing. That attentiveness moves into joy—I find myself smiling more and more. Then the joy begins to break out in gratitude.

Cultivating Gratefulness
I believe we can cultivate a heart of gratefulness in several ways. First, we cultivate gratefulness by noticing the good that God gives. It is interesting that often the wealthiest and most successful are the least grateful. They become accustomed to having what they want—and they always want more.

Second, we cultivate gratitude by expressing it back to God is thanksgiving. Gratefulness needs to be expressed. It is like flowing water—the more it flows, the more momentum it gains. Alone on the rocks along Lake Superior, I expressed my gratefulness to God through singing and worship—what a wonderful opportunity to praise the Lord in creation! Other times I express my thankfulness by writing it down to the Lord in my journal. Still other times I articulate it in words to someone around me. Recently Sharon and I have begun to celebrate the beauty of creation through photography—that has been so much fun and so rewarding!

Central to All Spiritual Growth
Gratitude is central to all genuine spiritual growth. To grow in thankfulness is to grow in the Lord. And to grow spiritually is to increase in thankfulness. As Ronald Rolheiser has said: Show me someone who is spiritually mature, and I will show you someone with a grateful heart!

The more I nurture thankfulness in my life, the more I grow—in victory over discouragement, in energy pursuing the Lord, and in kindness to those around me. This summer I want to continue cultivating genuine gratefulness in my heart and expressing it through my words and actions!

© 2011 Glenn E. Myers

Stepping Away from Busyness and Efficiency

While many of us want to live in the moment—and be present to God’s presence—our whole approach to life militates against such presence. Without a deep change inside, living in the "now" will always be just a romantic dream for us.

Busyness and efficiency are two of the false gods of contemporary culture. Socrates warned: Beware of the barrenness of a busy life. Our society today, however, has ignored that caution. In our attempt to have it all, we keep going faster and faster. The problem is that we run past more than we catch up to. In our greediness for life and experience, we actually miss out on so much of life.

Contemporary Christians have unwittingly fallen into the worship of the same false gods. No different than unbelievers around us, we pursue busyness and efficiency. It is not that hard work is wrong. However, when the hectic pace with which we approach our work consumes our every waking hour and distracts our thoughts, we are no long focused on God. If we hope to experience God to the fullest—and to be available to God in a profound way—we must step away from our pathetic activism.

How often we approach our daily work with stress and distraction. We blame our lack of time with God on our busy schedule, and we accuse our responsibilities for hindering our spiritual maturity.

However, “it is not your work that hinders you” from spiritual growth, asserts the great preacher, Johannes Tauler, “but rather the disordered way in which you work that hinders you. You fail to keep God clearly in your love, in your longing and in your heart. Thus you are scattered and distorted within, and God is not completely intrinsic to you. Truly, what hinders you is not your work or anything other than yourself.” [1]

We assume that it all depends on us, and that we need to work harder and longer to get everything done. However, Scripture tells that the fruitfulness of our labor depends on the Lord and that he gives us peace and rest:

Unless the Lord builds the house,
  its builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
  the watchmen stand guard in vain.
In vain you rise early and stay up late,
  toiling for the food you eat—
  for he grants sleep to those he loves. (Ps 127:1-2)

Let us cast our cares on the Lord all day long as we approach our work and responsibilities, and let us truly enter God’s rest!

1. Johannes Tauler Predigten: Vollständige Ausgabe, edited by Georg Hofmann (Freiburg: Herder, 1961), sermon 5, pp. 35-36. All translations from German are my own.

© 2012 Glenn E. Myers

Present Obedience Opens Unseen Doors

Seldom do we see the significance of the present moment. From our perspective the daily tasks of life often seem mundane. Yet God is present, and he is at work. How often he is forging perseverance in our hearts! How often the Lord is building character in our lives and testing us, to see if we will truly obey him!

When we follow God’s leading, he then builds upon our often-hidden obedience of today as he works out his plans for tomorrow. We do not know what those plans may be. Often we have a guess, and sometimes he gives us a glimpse of what is ahead. Nevertheless, none of us really knows what God is planning. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,” says the Lord in Isaiah 55, “So are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."

When we are faithful in little things, God opens bigger opportunities and greater responsibilities.

Jean-Pierre de Caussade describes it: “We must therefore allow each moment to be the cause of the next; the reason for what precedes being revealed in what follows, so that everything is linked firmly and solidly together in a divine chain of events. The world of ideas, imagination, argument no longer nourishes and sustains souls. They no longer see or know where they are going, no long depend on an effort of will to overcome the fatigue or endure the hardship of the journey. Everything happens in a profound sense of their own helplessness.” [1]

God is present in our least task. He is there far more than we realize in our loving service to others, especially in our least-favorite task! Faithfulness unnoticed by human eyes flings wide open the doors to God’s plans for my future.

[1] Jean-Pierre de Caussade, The Sacrament of the Present Moment, trans. Kitty Muggeridge (San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1989), p. 21.

© 2012 Glenn E. Myers

God's Presence Permeating Everyday Life

You have graced the sky with the light
  of your glory, O Lord,
And breathed your goodness
  into all that surrounds me.
You have enveloped all of creation with your
  uncreated Beauty, O God,
And crowned the year with your bounty,
  meeting my every need!

Please open my eyes today, O Lord,
  to the wonder of your works all around me.
May I see your fingerprints on the events
  of my everyday life.
Let me appreciate your goodness and your care for me,
  cloaked in the garb of the mundane.
And may I spy your divine presence
  permeating the rhythm of my daily life!

Today my heart will exult in your brilliance,
  permeating the events that seem so small.
My mouth will declare your praises,
  for you pervade the space that surrounds me.
My whole being will bless you all day long, O Lord,
  for your presence fills the heavens and the earth!

Radical Christians: Model of the Friends of God

Basel Muenster What does radical Christianity look like? What does it mean to be a genuine Friend of God? One answer to this question--one model that contemporary believers can learn from--is the group during the 14th century known as the Friends of God. Centered about Basel, Strassburg and Cologne along the Rhine River--the "spiritual artery of Germany"--Johannes Tauler was one of their key leaders. The Friends of God included men and women, singles and married, Beguines and nuns and monks. Yet they were in correspondence with each other. Above all they pursued God with their whole heart. To learn more, click on the left-hand margin to read my article on CBN.com.

God's Presence Filling Ordinary Days

How often I experience God in the exciting times. Lent is an intense time of spiritual focus. Likewise I love to get away on retreat, go on a pilgrimage, or celebrate a sunrise service at Easter. However, ordinary days and seasons of the year are much harder. It is more difficult to maintain energy in my walk with the Lord—as well as be thankfulness—during the day-in and day-out of life.

Life’s Daily Events
Currently I am learning to enjoy God’s presence in the daily events of life. He is harder to see—at least for me—in the mundane, but he is not the least bit less there.

Everyday life is chock full with God’s handiwork. Indeed, the ordinary is pregnant with the presence of God if we but have eyes to see it.

An ordinary sunset displays God’s radiant glory. A quiet half hour over a cup of coffee in the morning is an opportunity to listen to the still, small voice. The wakening of a new day is a revelation of God’s creation.

That is precisely the revelation that an English woman, Eleanor Farjeon, had when she wrote the words to the hymn “Morning has Broken.” She heard the blackbird’s song as an echo of the first bird at creation. In the dawning of the new morning she saw the very first morn springing fresh from the Word!

Eyes of Faith
The eyes of faith discover God’s fingerprints all around us—all other eyes see just an ordinary day. I am learning to cultivate a receptive attitude so I can receive the Lord’s love and peace and presence in the mundane times of life. Recently I saw this quote:

“No heaven can come to us
unless our hearts find rest in it today.
Take heaven.
No peace lies in the future
which is not hidden in this present instant.
Take peace.” -Fra Giovanni

We cannot wait for the extraordinary times and experiences to enjoy the Lord. They are great when they come; however, we must enjoy God’s presence in the ordinary days of life—because that is precisely where we live most of our lives.

© 2012 Glenn E. Myers