The Eternal Now 

   Thirty seconds ago is the past; I can do nothing to change it.  Thirty seconds from now is the future; nothing guarantees that I will live to see it.  What I am left with is now, not the past, not the future, but this very moment in time.  It gives me a different perspective on how to live my life by recognizing this fact.

   This concept makes me want to do all I can to ensure that I don’t regret the past by my actions or sins.  It makes me want to be prepared for the future should it come.  Mostly it impresses upon me the absolute need to consider the state of my soul every minute of my life.

   One of the teachings of St. Benedict reminds the monks that they should consider their mortality each day since they never know which day will be their last.  In realizing that each day, or even each second, could be the last it adds an urgency to ensure that I am ready whenever God calls me home.  Such an attitude has an impact on the decisions and choices that I make.

   Eternity is a mystery.  We don’t truly understand an existence where time does not exist.  Yet, in some ways, the now of each moment of my life is eternity; it never ends.  Now is now, a few seconds forward in time will also be now.  No matter how long I live, be it a few moments or many years I always live in the now of each moment.

   I can’t change the past and the future may never come.  I must live this now and every now to come with those thoughts in mind. 

I can’t fix the past.

I can’t be certain of the future.

I must live in the now.

Father, I offer this and every now to You. 

Amen