It sounds like a cliche, “living in the moment”. But it’s actually quite biblical. And quite difficult. Most of us struggle with living in the moment. My struggle is that I can too often live in the past — thinking of good times long gone or reliving offenses and getting angry all over again. Others battle with living in the future — thinking of what we’d like to do next month or next year, becoming increasingly discontent with the ‘right now’. All of us need work on living in the moment.

During Thanksgiving Break, my daughter was watching some old home videos. One segment in particular stuck out to me: It was 2002, and our girls were 1 and 3. It was cold outside, so we had set up a “slide” — a twin mattress propped up on the plaid couch in Dave’s office. Emma, age 3, was climbing to the top and sliding down. Ellie, 1, was not quite big enough to get to the top, so she sat at the bottom, looking up in anticipation. I was holding the camera, and Dave was on the computer, no doubt working on an assignment for a seminary class. I asked, “Dave, can you help Ellie?”

As I watched the video, I saw Dave look at the computer — and the work that he had to do for an upcoming class — then look at Ellie, her big blue eyes wide. He nodded, pushed away from the desk, and grabbed Ellie. He placed her at the top of the mattress, and she slid down, laughing. Dave didn’t just do it once and return to his paper. At least a dozen more times, Dave placed Ellie at the top of the “slide”, watching her come down, and doing it all over again. His computer eventually went into “Sleep” mode, as his work was set aside in favor of his daughter.

This, I thought, is living in the moment. We are not perfect parents, but as I watched that video, I recognized, that day, we did it right. We saw that our precious toddlers were having fun, and we joined in. Well, Dave joined in. I recorded it. I couldn’t have imagined at that moment that those girls would have a brother a year and a half later. I certainly couldn’t have imagined all the changes and surprises, great times and difficult times we’d face as a family. And I didn’t need to. At that moment, I just needed to enjoy my girls. I needed to laugh as Dave helped Ellie up. I needed to record their faces and voices. I needed to put the camera down and make them lunch, then lay down with them at nap time and read them stories.

I wish I could say that I live every day like that day. But, too often, I don’t. Too often I relive the past or worry about the future, and I miss out on today. But today, James reminds us, is all we are assured of. Yesterday is gone – we can’t change it. Tomorrow isn’t promised. So I need to live today to the fullest.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Mt. 6:34