“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:34 (NIV)
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.” Isaiah 43:18 (ESV)
Driving across country with only my service dog Shakespeare for company, I had a lot of time on my hands to be lost in thought. Many times throughout the day I found myself reliving painful memories of things I regret having said or done. I’d do my best to get back into the present moment and enjoy the scenery, but I’d no sooner let go of the past and I’d time travel into the future. I’d worry about all sorts of things! Then I would remind myself to stay in the present moment. I’d reach over and stroke Shakespeare’s head as he slept curled up on the seat next to me.
It’s all too easy to be a time-traveler. You don’t have to be driving cross country in order to visit the past or ramble on into the future. We do it many times a day. But it’s not a healthy thing to do. It’s a waste of time, energy and emotion. We can’t undo things that we have already done (or things that were done to us). Nor can we do things in the future!
The Bible is clear: stay in the present moment. If we want to be fully reliant on God, we must be where he is. He can’t be accessed in the past or the future. When we stop time-traveling, we actually give our brains a better chance at developing the capacity to think better so we feel and behave better! (We create more connections to the prefrontal cortex.)
Today, catch yourself when you are having a blast from the past, or fast forwarding into the future. Stop. Come back to this moment. What do you see around you? What do you feel? Hear? Smell? Taste? Get grounded in the present. Can you feel God there with you?