Someplace Else

Someplace Else

Reading: Job 39; 1 Corinthians 7-8 And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there… (1 Corinthians 7:17a MSG) I really don’t have the problem of wishing I were someplace else. I’m happy that, after a lifetime of moving on and starting over, God has put me in this place and has surrounded me with the family and friends he has given me. I don’t have the problem of wishing I were with someone else. Jean and I are happy together in the 57th year of our marriage. It’s a good love and a good life! The thing I have to watch most carefully is my tendency to live in the past (which is mostly regret-based living: “What if I hadn’t…” or “If only I had…”) and my tendency to live in the future (which is mostly anxiety-based living: “What if that happens…” or “What if it doesn’t work out…”). God is patiently teaching me in this season that “This Moment” is his gift to me and that it is to be experienced, appreciated, and shared. With this lesson I’m learning that being fully present in and fully living out “This Moment” becomes the basis and the preparation for living the next “Moment” well! Dear friends, determine to accept and make the most of the life you have:
• This Moment is God’s gift to you. It’s what you have. It’s where you are. Love it! Live it!
• Resist the powerful pull of living in the past (regret) or the future (anxiety), and give yourself fully to This Moment and all it offers.
• Live, love, believe, and obey right here right now—in This Moment. Living This Moment well and fully is the best preparation for all other Moments that follow! Prayer: Father, Thank you for This Moment. Thank you for where I am and who I am with. You have given me a purposeful place to serve. You have given me a partner to live and love and serve with. You have given me family and friends. You have given me This Moment to experience, to steward, and to share. Thank you so much! Amen.