Here and Now Will Do

Health · Mind and spirit

By M. Kamau

The only place we can truly live

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matthew 6:34)

Our minds are master time travellers. In a single moment, we can be pulled from the quiet of the present into the turbulent seas of the past or the foggy, uncertain shores of the future. We can be sitting at a kitchen table with a warm drink in hand, and suddenly we are no longer there.

We are back in a room from five years ago, hearing a statement that eroded our confidence, feeling the sting of a wrong we committed, carrying the heavy, familiar burden of guilt and remorse. Or, just as quickly, we are thrown into a future that has not happened, our hearts racing with forebodings about relationships, finances and struggles we can only imagine. Our minds can settle in these other times in a desperate bid to protect us, to prepare us, or to punish us.

But this time travel, however well-intentioned, comes at a great cost. It costs us the quality of the life we live now.

Harassed by ghosts

We may have flashbacks: a painful moment that threatened our safety, a look or a gesture from someone that chipped away at our trust. Our nervous system, the faithful record-keeper of our lives, remembers the sounds, smells, sights and tastes of those times and places. It keeps a meticulous record and will run us back there in a heartbeat, trying to shield us from a similar experience. And so we find ourselves living in a memory, harassed by ghosts.

Into this inner storm, Jesus spoke a simple and profound truth: “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” These words are not a dismissal of our pain but an invitation. It is an invitation to stop our frantic time travel and anchor ourselves in the one place where we can actually experience peace: the here and now. The present moment is where life is lived. It is where we experience grace, extend forgiveness and receive love.

“God will work for us. We have only to live one day at a time, and if we get acquainted with God, He will give us strength for what is coming tomorrow, grace sufficient for each day, and every day will find its own victories, just as it finds its trials.... We have the same God that has worked for His people in ages past. Jesus stands by our side, and shall we falter? No, as the trials come, the power of God will come with them. God will help us to stand in faith on His Word, and when we are united, He will work with special power in our behalf.”¹

What to do with the past

Some of what pulls us back is guilt for wrongs we have done. That burden was never meant to be carried into every new day. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). What Christ has forgiven, we do not need to keep living in.

This does not mean we ignore our past or never plan for our future. It means we use them differently. We can sift through the past for good, for the memories that make us smile: the surprising kindness of a stranger, the encouragement of a favourite teacher, the times our anxieties were soothed and we felt truly safe. These moments can be a compass, proof that goodness exists and can be found again, helping us navigate the present struggle.

In the same way, we can use the future not as a source of anxiety but as a canvas for hope. It is a gentle reminder that good things can still happen, regardless of past hurts and present circumstances. But we must not live there. We must not let its imagined troubles rob us of today’s real joys.

“Hitherto hath the Lord helped us, and he will help us to the end. We will look to the monumental pillars, reminders of what the Lord has done to comfort us and to save us from the hand of the destroyer. We are to keep fresh the memory of every pain the Lord has soothed, every anxiety he has removed, every fear he has dispelled, every want he has supplied, every mercy he has bestowed. Thus we are to strengthen ourselves for the remainder of our pilgrimage.”²

Jean-François Millet, The Angelus (1857–1859). Public domain.

He is here

Of all the times and places we can be with Jesus, in our memories and in our hope, the most powerful is here and now. In the middle of the hurtful experiences we carry, in the faces we have seen, in the quiet of this moment, He is present. His promise is plain: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). Whatever the case, here and now will do.

So let us try. Let us gently catch ourselves when our minds begin to drift. Take a deep breath. Feel the ground beneath your feet. Listen to the sounds of this very moment. The past is a memory. The future is a possibility. But this moment, this here and now, is a gift. It is the only place where we can truly live, and the only place where we can truly meet the One who holds all our times in His hands. With David we can say, “My times are in thy hand” (Psalm 31:15).

An invitation for today

• Anchor yourself. Find one thing you can physically feel right now: the texture of your clothes, the temperature of the air on your skin, the solid chair beneath you. This is your anchor to the present.
• Find one good memory. When you feel the pull of the past, turn your mind to one good memory: a moment of laughter, a feeling of accomplishment, a time you were loved.
• Breathe a prayer. Whisper a simple prayer: “Lord, here and now, You are with me.” Let that be your refuge from the storm of thoughts.

Here and now will do. It is enough.

Cover: Carl Bloch, The Sermon on the Mount (1877). Public domain.

Notes

1. Ellen G. White, My Life Today, p. 94 (ML 94). egwwritings.org
2. Ellen G. White, The Southern Watchman, January 26, 1904, par. 12.

Bible quotations are from the King James Version.