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| photo from Shutterstock |
In the next six months, Dick and I will both celebrate a
major milestone in life—turning 65! Lately, our conversations center around
both the future and the past. Words like retirement and remember, Medicare and Minister’s
Life (an insurance company we once were under that covered medical costs
100%!!!), prepare and previously, until and used-to-be, intertwine.
On SacredSpace.ie I recently read an excerpt from Jesuits
Telling Jokes by Nikolaas Sintobin, SJ that seems divinely apropos to
Dick’s and my current lines of thinking. Here are my excerpts from their
excerpt. :D
“Toward the end of his life, St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote
that the thought of his own death, when he would be reunited with his Creator
and Lord, brought him such intense joy it made him ‘melt into tears.’ At the
same time, Ignatius was in love with life. He could find God in all things and
serve him in every activity and event. There was no need to wait until after
death to taste the joy of God’s presence.
St. Ignatius of Loyola warned against two possible pitfalls
in one’s spiritual life: nostalgia for the past and needless dreaming about the
future.
Reflecting back on specific moments of God’s presence—moments
when we experienced peace and joy, vitality and trust, gives us the opportunity
to adapt our lives now so that they’re more closely linked to the ways God has previously
drawn us. But we can also get stuck in our own past and end up watching the
same “film” over and over, effectively withdrawing from the only time that
really exists — the present.
Likewise, Ignatius warned that we must not to let the future
distract us from the great challenge that every person faces of living fully in
the present moment, in the now. [While it is good to plan for and envision
upcoming years,] we can be tempted to spend needless time day-dreaming [perhaps
worrying] about a not-yet-existing future at the expense of real life.” We can
miss the presence of God abundant today.
By seeking and finding God in all things, in each moment, we
can consider our lives here and now as the precise place where we can already
experience the fullness of God’s love—no need to cling to the past or wait for
the
Lord, thank you for your sustaining presence in the past and
for the promise of your constant companionship in the future. May I concentrate
on fully recognizing you in today,
and draw in all the goodness and love you offer in the present. Through Jesus
our Lord, Amen.
May you, like me, be encouraged!
Pam
©2017 Pamela D. Williams
