ACT IN THE LIVING PRESENT

“ACT IN THE LIVING PRESENT! HEART WITHIN, AND GOD O’ERHEAD!”. This is one of the lines in a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, entitled: “A Psalm of Life”.

In the past few days I have been pondering on the Mystery of God’s manifestation of His Power here on earth. Since GOD is ALIVE and all of creation depends on His creative power for its existence, is He, in one way or another, active in what is happening in the world?

Years back I have been told by my professors in Theology that for God everything is PRESENT. For us, human beings, however, time is reckoned as Past, Present and Future. This to me is a great enigma that I have been trying to understand.

Reflecting on what Mr. Longfellow has said, I see the wisdom of focusing on the PRESENT MOMENT. To paraphrase the words of Longfellow, I would say: “Focus on what you are doing now, do it with all your heart, perceiving it as the Will of God.” This is strengthened by some spiritual writers who have given this advice: “Leave the Past to God’s mercy, leave the Future to God’s providence, and live in the Present with all the love you can give.”

Verily, it is in the Present Moment that one can act and make decisions. Whatever one does now cannot be repeated under the same circumstances. As President Obama of USA has said: “We cannot step on the same river twice”. It has also been said: “We live through this world only once, and so, whatever good we can do now, let us do it now, for we shall never pass this way again.”

As there are sins of commission, there are also sins of omission. Reviewing my past life I honestly regret to have missed some opportunities of doing something good. I realize that more often it was because of shyness or false humility that I did not dare to do what I should have done. I now accept that things would have been better had I taken advantage of the opportunities open to me in those moments to share my time, talents and treasures.

For now, I firmly believe that “TO ACT IN THE LIVING PRESENT!” is a very wise dictum to follow, for as long as what one does wholeheartedly is in accordance with the WILL OF GOD.

by: Salvador 'Buddy' Cagurangan
January 16, 2011