Expectations

Much of this month is taken up with celebrations, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's. A lot of time is employed in preparation for the parties, dinners and family get togethers that seem to be the heart of the festivities.

Have you ever noticed that as you prepare for an event you live through it in advance in your mind? Mentally you picture the arrival, laughter around the table, food being served and consumed, and gifts exchanged. All the details of the event are vividly recreated so you can gauge their impact and make adjustments as needed. Colors, sounds, tastes, smells, come to life in your imagination and the fun of the event becomes palpable.

Often the preparation and expectations are as exciting as the event itself. However constantly obsessing with what is in the future deprives us of the enjoyment of the present. We live in the present. If our attention is devoted to what may or may not happen tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year we are losing what is before us right now.

In the present we access beauty and joy not in anticipation but in actuality. In the present we find comfort and solace, not as a possibility but as a fact. In the present we encounter Spirit and the good of God, not just theoretically but as the primal event of our life. Divinity's realm is the now and that is where we stay centered.

Affirm: I rejoice in the wonder of my life's journey. My attention is on the present moment in which God and I are one.