Sacrament of the Present Moment

Every night as part of my daily examen I consider how God spoke to me during the course of the day. Sometimes I hear God speak through the words or actions of another person, in something I read, in a song, or in something I observed in nature. Last night the words of God that surfaced were “Don’t take spring for granted.”

That advice seems odd. How can I possibly take spring for granted when, after a long and dreary winter, the trees are in spectacular bloom, tulips and daffodils are brightening the landscape, and the grass is an impossible shade of green? As our friends in the Dakotas experienced just yesterday, an unexpected blast of snow can disrupt a lovely spring, and here in Northeast Kansas, our temperatures are dipping dangerously close to freezing at night. Spring is precious, delicate, and fleeting. We all know that. But as God knows, although most of us readily express our appreciation for the beauties of spring, we rarely take time to actually savor it…and then the heat of summer sets in and our opportunity is gone for another year.

If, even in the most beautiful time of the year, we cannot live fully in the moment, how can we hope to do at times that we consider inclement or unpleasant or boring? It can be helpful to consider the following words of Evelyn Underhill: “God is always coming to you in the Sacrament of the Present Moment. Meet and receive God there with gratitude in that sacrament.”

If the present moment is a sacrament, that means it is a means of divine grace or a sign of a spiritual reality that is always available to us when we choose to dwell there. God is coming to us and communicating with us in every moment—moments of pain and struggle, as well as moments of beauty and inspiration.

Don’t take spring—today’s sacrament of the present moment—for granted.

Maybe this advice isn't so mundane after all.