It takes a special kind of inner grace to appreciate where you are and what you have right now. After all, that’s not what life teaches most of us. We need to constantly be improving, doing better; to be gaining, not losing; to crest one summit only to move on to another, taller one. And yet being grateful for the present is one of the most truly satisfying feelings we can know.
That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with moving forward and looking ahead. If we ever want to learn more and grow, that’s what we need to do. But sometimes, it’s best to take a moment, to feel the sunshine and smell the breeze and understand the simple joy of being alive.
I went on a retreat with my college ministry group my junior year. The retreat was called Kairos – Greek for ‘God’s time.’ We were not supposed to bring watches or look at our phones (the horror, I know) throughout the weekend. There was no schedule presented to the participants. Instead, we were to focus on being present, on not worrying so much about what time it was or where we needed to go next. When the weekend began, all we wanted was to sneak a glance at the clock. When the weekend ended, all we wanted was to keep living in a place where we didn’t worry about the passage of time.
But we don’t need to go on a soul-searching retreat or live like a Buddhist monk to appreciate the power of living fully in the present. We all know the anticipation of something is often far more enjoyable than actually attaining it. Our whole lives are fraught with anticipation and waiting – in waiting for life to begin, we miss the fact that it is already happening right here, right now.
If I just had that, we think. If I just lived there, or If only I could get that new job, then I’d be happy. It’s an endless cycle, this feeling of always wanting more. If we can learn to be grateful for what we already have, then we will know true happiness. If we keep waiting for more, we will always be searching.
“Bloom where you’re planted,” said St. Francis de Sales. It’s a tall order; what if I don’t like where I’m planted at the moment? What if I want to move on? He doesn’t forbid that, but his message is clear: Do the best you can with what you have right now. If you want to be somewhere else, that’s fine; for the time being, focus on living right here, right now. You’ll never have this day again: Take advantage of it.
Don’t wait for the future to begin living. Start today.
bloom. 