We Have This Moment

We Have This Moment, Today

"We have this moment to hold in our hands and to touch, as it slips through our fingers like sand.  Yesterday's gone, and tomorrow may never come.  But we have this moment -- today."

Bill Gaither wrote this song in 1975.  I thought the lyrics were powerful back then.  But now its message seems to speak directly to my life and circumstances.  Perhaps it will speak to yours as well.   

A moment is "a particular point in time."  We all have them.  Many of them.  A lifetime of them.  In fact, life is really just a series of moments.  They are how we remember our existence.  We don't remember minutes on a clock, or dates on a calendar.  We remember moments -- moments marked by experiences.

"We have THIS MOMENT to hold in our hands..." And yet, living "in this moment" can be so difficult.  I have spent an enormous amount of time and energy living in the PAST -- regretting what I did, or didn't do.  Lamenting decisions I made, or didn't make.  Wishing I could go back and change things.

I have spent an equal amount of time and energy worrying about the future.  What will tomorrow bring?  What does next week, next month, or next year hold for me and those I love?  Will I be up to the tasks that lay before me?  Will this body, this heart of mine, allow me to be there when my children graduate from college, choose to get married and have children of their own?

What a waste of precious time and emotional energy!  This moment is all we really have.  We cannot go back to the past, and we are not guaranteed any future time on this earth.  This moment is literally all there is.  But -- this moment is a TREMENDOUS gift from God.   We DO have THIS MOMENT.

God does not encourage us to regret.  Nor does God encourage us to fear and worry.  In fact, God's Word commands us NOT to engage in any of these activities.  Regret that brings us to repentance of past or present sin IS of God and restores our relationship to Him.  But too often regret has no purpose other than to discourage and dishearten us.  Regret usually allows no room for hope, restoration, or renewal.  And God has "great plans" for us.  Plans to give us a "hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11).

Fear and worry are also not of God.  "Fear not" is one of the most common phrases found in Scripture.  And the reason most often given to "fear not" is simply this -- because GOD IS WITH YOU.

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right Hand."  (Isaiah 41:10)

"The Lord is my light and my salvation -- whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life -- of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1)

There is value in looking at the past.  I am the person I am in large part because of my past experiences, and God continues to teach me so much from these experiences.  And there is value in thinking and planning for the future.

But we must LIVE in the present.  This is where God is working.  Right here.  Right now.  In this moment.  It may seem like an ordinary moment -- just the passage of time.  But God is doing extraordinary things here, in this moment of your life.

"Yesterday's gone, and tomorrow may never come.  But we have this moment -- today."