In The Moment

Author Becky A. Bailey Ph.D. makes some interesting observations in her recent book "I Love You Rituals." She talks about being "in the moment" and how important it really is.  She says, "I was frightened of the present moment...the present was where my feelings were located. I spent so many years busy, exercising, achieving and taking care of others; I never realized these were different forms of compulsion to drown out my feelings. I also thought if I relaxed and let down my defenses, people would see me as incompetent or unworthy." This is a powerful revelation! The moment a person realizes his or her dysfunction or brokeness, the reality of change is already present....

Dr. Bailey further states,"I, like many of you, have been socialized to think either of the past (what I should have done) or the future (what I need to do next). The present was an elusive commodity for me." Is the present an elusive commodity for you too? Do you find yourself wishing you had done things differently and presently feel unrest in your heart? Or maybe your future's security is weighing you down and causing great anxiety?

Jesus said, "I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give. It isn't like the peace that this world can give. So don't be worried or afraid." John 14:27 CEV and also, "I have told you this, so that you might have peace in your hearts because of me. While you are in the world, you will have to suffer. But cheer up! I have defeated the world." John 16:33 CEV. My question to you is how do these words of our Master bring peace? How can mere words smooth the ragged edges of our war-torn souls? What is a practical application we can draw from these two passages from the book of John?

If Christ only spoke these words without any actions attached to them, then I myself would have a difficult time understanding and applying them to my life. I might even shrug my shoulders and not give Him a second listen for how could He know my burdens? my cares and struggle? From where does He draw His knowledge about human conflict?  It is only when I quietly analyze the miraculous details of His birth, life and death that I begin to see something unusual unfurl yet very familiar as well. 

The familiarity I see in the life of God as a human is in every point a reflection of me. He felt pain and hunger and sadness and even anger. He bathed, He sang, He prayed, and He had a family with desires and dreams. Tears stung His eyes and sweat covered His brow in the noonday sun, just like me. What makes Him any different? Well, for starters, His existence didn't begin in the womb of Mary yet His existence as a human did! God has always existed but 2,000 years ago He experienced for the first time what humans have been experiencing since the very beginning - birth, a life lived and death.

What I find unusual about this God-Man is that while we as humans tend to adore power and majesty, the very One that has every right to demand worship and honor decided to blow the covers off that man-made image of Him and take a seat among lowly earthlings. Did He find that uncomfortable? Do we? 

And even now, as we stand on the shoulders of time stretching ourselves to see and learn and discover more than those before us, nothing much has changed. Even now, we can behold 21st century zealots demanding that the Creator bring down fire and brimstone in order to overthrow the pagans who mock Him and deride His very existence. But beneath this smoldering tumult, if we look a little deeper and a little wider, we will sense a pulse swelling evenly and with a determined cadence that not even the mightiest of armies can quell.

It is the truth about God. 

The truth that He has not come to conquer with earthly weaponry but rather with Divine munition - that which is willing to lay itself down at the feet of it's foe to be trampled yet not conquered; beaten down but not overpowered; bruised yet not crushed; enslaved yet not mastered. Perhaps when this brand of authority resonates with the human race we will experience the "coming" of He who never left us in the first place.