The sacredness of the present moment

A contemplative views the present moment as sacred. This is because the present is the moment in which we live our lives and where God is with us. The past is gone, and the future is not yet ours. There is only the present.

This means that, in one sense, it doesn't matter what is happening in my life right now. I may be in church worshipping or at home vacuuming. In either case, God, who calls Himself Immanuel (God with us) is present. And wherever God is present is holy ground, as Moses discovered when God asked him to remove his shoes in the desert because he was in the presence of God and that made the ground on which he was standing holy. Similarly, whenever God is present is a holy moment.

But people only notice God in their "ordinary" moments if they know to look for Him there. If they think they are only close to God in church, then they may not notice Him in their vacuuming.

This week for me has been a wild mix of emotions. My Mum was suddenly rushed to hospital, and I was distressed. She continued without a diagnosis and a very poor prognosis, and I began to prepare for the worst. That day I was exhausted with hard news. Yesterday, my Mum received a pacemaker and looks better but is so confused that she may not be able to return home. I was happy but challenged. I worked on some Christmas cards and gifts and now am getting ready for a Christmas dinner and dance: appreciation for the season and for my friends and family, and sorrow for my mother's condition. As a contemplative, I entered fully into all these emotions and circumstances because that is my present and where God is closest to me. And He has indeed proven that to be so. I have felt His comfort. I have resolved some of my conflicted emotions about the mother who loved me and also abused me, and I have had healing. I've realized afresh the depth of what God has given us in terms of ultimate freedom from all that is hurtful and troubling and sad. I have worshipped Him in those realizations. In my home, in the midst of my messy life, I have touched God as surely as He may be touched in any sanctuary.

God is Immanuel, the one who promises to be with us to the very end of the age, to never leave us, ever. And we realize that promise of unbroken fellowship in our present moments where we live our ordinary lives.