Daily Thought for Wednesday, August 10th

August 10, 2011

The Present

Today’s Thought:

“The present is the past’s student and the future’s teacher.”  – Anonymous

Today’s Quotes:

“The meeting of two eternities, the past and future is precisely the present moment.” – Henry David Thoreau

Today’s Question

Did you know that: “The present is a fulcrum on which the future and the past lie balanced?” – Jonathan Schell

Today’s Bible Verses:                  Psalms 118:24 & 2 Corinthians 6:2

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

“If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.

I’d thank my lucky stars,
to be livin here today.”– Lee Greenwood (lyrics from ‘Proud To Be An American’)

Right now, this moment; is the present.  Are you thankful to be here?  Are you making the most of it?

Time is somewhat relative and we don’t break down each day into microscopic intervals such as seconds and milliseconds in our attempt to determine what is definable as our present.  But suffice it to say, that chunks of time such as morning, afternoon, evening, and night are all close enough to limited time frames; that as we are in each we should be able to with some comfort determine that they are, while being experienced, our present. 

Gloria Steinem expressed it like this: “I’ve always had two or more tracks running in my head.  The pleasurable one was thinking forward to some future scene, imagining what should be, panning on the edge of fantasy.  The other played underneath with all too realistic fragments of what I should have done.  There it was in perfect microcosm, the past and future coming together to squeeze out the present – which is the only time in which we can be fully alive.”

God does not promise us a physical future, though He does promise us a spiritual one; the only sure guarantee we have is the here and now.

We need to take this moment in time to optimize our potential and put forth every effort to be the best and most we can be here and now for the glory of God.  We need to live to our fullest in this moment regardless of what was and without to much concern for what will be; making each experience in the present the most it can be.  Keep in mind, “The present is the future of the past.”  - Karl R. Popper

Sometimes when it comes to serving God our greatest gift is the giving of all that we are right now.  “Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.” – Albert Camus

And if the future comes and becomes the present, do it all over again.

Today’s Prayer:

Father, thank you for this moment in time you have given; may I make it count optimally for you.  And should you bless me with the next, may I continue to strive to optimize each future present moment until I see you face to face.