Now

It is unusual for small children to be anxious or regretful. Protected by Mom and Dad, they are without fear of coming trouble, unfamiliar with disappointment over frustrated goals and unfulfilled dreams. They only know the moment before them, and for the most part, that moment is full-on delight. Without the hard education of the environment we are born into, they fearlessly experience that moment for what it is: the instant of wonder.

When Jesus calls us to “Become as little children,” this presence in the present is one thing He has in mind. For the very small child, there is nothing to remember and no reason to fret the future. The present, the current instant, is all there is. One poet said, ”Heaven lies about us in our infancy.” That’s because in heaven there is only the eternal now. The now, like God Himself, is a beginning and an end that has no beginning or end, so whoever stands there stands “not far from the Kingdom of God.” We are built for the present, and we function well in a consciousness set on the moment at hand. Attending to where I am and when I am, can suspend agonies that are rooted in the past.

But the discipline of “living in the empty now” has its dangers. It produces a complacency that numbs the urgency for repentance, and so is favored by creeds that seek to escape the call of Christ. But “now consciousness” is not eternal salvation from death wielding sin. The Savior, who calls Himself the beginning and the end, gives us a Spirit that has no beginning or end. The frame to live in is “Jesus now,” because He forever-now lives in us.

In forgiving our sins He separates us from the tormenting past. In giving us His faith, He relieves our anxiety. Because, like any good father, God wants his children to be happy. He instructs us, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Thanksgiving sets our confidence in the God who creates the moment we occupy. Prayer tunes us to Him who holds in existence every now. His presence is now and ever now, and “in His presence is fullness of joy.”