“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” — Matthew 6:34
Photograph by The Delta Bohemian
What does it mean to live in the present? Is the present where we should live? And what’s up with the two thieves bit?
Magical Madge, Pontificus’s fine wife of mythical proportions, has commented often that she lives in the present. Upon first hearing this, Ole Pontificus was afraid it smacked of the worst strains of existential dogma—namely, too much emphasis on the here-and-now and not enough on the road ahead where Life Eternal resides and beckons.
“Living in the present is not worrying about the past or the future, and not allowing the past or the future to rob us of what we are experiencing right now, especially when it comes to your spouse, your children, your family, your friends and really everybody we meet,” Magical Madge said. “Think about how Jesus lived. He didn’t care about what he owned and all he had was the cloak on his back. He dealt with what was right in front of him.”
Having watched Magical Madge live her life in the present for over three years now, I am convinced the present is where God wants us to live, with but a recognition of what has transpired and an acknowledgement to the hope foreshadowed by a biblical understanding of God’s plans for mankind.
Martha Jane, mother of Pontificus, recently shared with number-one son and wife around the kitchen table the story of two non-biblical thieves—the past and the future–who nestle on either side of the present. Robbers and highwaymen they are, leaching the joy and relativity of being present and living in the now.
We can learn from the past and look expectantly to the future, but we must not allow “what is not” to hinder what is. The past is gone, let it lay; the future is ahead, let it be. Worrying about what has happened and what might happen are two thieves robbing us of what is. And what is matters.
Please click on the link below to hear what Pontificus’s brother–Poor William—thinks about the present.
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