This place called, "here" and time called, "now"

 

A friend recently said to me, “My situation hasn’t changed, but I have changed how I’m in my situation.”  I said, “We should get that printed on a t-shirt.”  Because the truth is, how we show up to here and now is where we have the most control.  I cannot change everything about the world or what happens here and now, but I can change how I respond and react.  I can be thoughtful, prayer, loving.  I can bravely lean forward with love, hope, peace, courage, and God’s justice.  I can be open to God who is here in this place. Or I can spend endless amounts of energy trying to fix everything and point out all the flaws.

Here and now.

There is another great story of encounter God in our ordinary lives when Moses encounters burning bush in Exodus 3.  Moses wasn’t looking for a spiritual transformational moment.  He wasn’t looking for a new job.  He didn’t seem discontent or dissatisfied.  And God met him as he was taking care of his father-in-law’s flock.  Moses takes off his shoes on holy ground.  Maybe this was ground that Moses had walked countless times before, but now realizes something new is here ~ a place that he walked right past before.  Moses asks for God’s name and God says, “YWHW,” which can mean many things in Hebrew.  It can mean, I AM WHO I AM or I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.  I capitalize this because it honors the divine name.  Notice, “I AM” is present tense and God’s name opens a sacred spaciousness to the future to be who God will be ~ God cannot be contained in this moment and yet is found here and now.  God promises to be with you where you are as well as then and there in what unfolds ~ we need not fear what will be.  Yet, that is NOT the narrative we are told or sold.  We are told by politicians that if the other party is elected, it is Armageddon and it will be the worst time ever!!!  Fear the other.  We are told by companies that if we don’t buy the latest iPhone, we will be laughed at and seen as less than.  To say that who we are now is enough because God is here, and who we will be in the future as we grow will be enough because God is there too.  I cannot change everything about this moment, but I can change how I show up to this moment.  May this truth resonate and reverberate every second this day with the presence and promise of God here and now. Amen.