Lisa notes

My mind drifts forward. I have things to do this week that I’m excited about (babysitting my grandson for one!).

I also think to the past. I remember a joke my oldest granddaughter used to share with me. I laugh.

Back and forth and in-between, my mind wanders all day long.

Occasionally I land here, in the moment. This moment. And I remember, oh yes, this is where I’m supposed to be right now!

This moment is the only one we ever have. This is where God is most present.

Living too much in the past can cause guilt or sadness. Living too much in the future can cause anxiety or fear. Time is the root of suffering when there’s not enough presence.

Say yes to this moment.

Of course we need to think ahead to the future. And we find joy in thinking back to the past.

Planning ahead and reminiscing about the past are both good uses of the present.

But not to the exclusion of the present.

So for today, I’ll say yes to noticing what is happening now.

• I’ll say yes to listening to this person who is talking.
• I’ll say yes to savoring this meal as I eat it.
• I’ll say yes to the water in the shower and the prayer with God and the conversations with friends and the walk to the mailbox, all the little things that make up a day, one short moment at a time.

The small individual moments are actually the biggest moments of all.

There is enough in this moment.

Say yes to this moment.

Do you naturally drift more to the past or to the future? (I lean toward the future.) Or do you stay firmly in the present? Share in the comments.

Read More:

• What Are Middles For? 
• 4 Lessons on Living in the Now
• Now is God’s Time of Choice

You are on Day #21 of the series: Find Your Mantra {28 Daily Mantras}

• See the Mantras Table of Contents here

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“The greatest of these is love” {Mantra 20}

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“Love matters more” {Mantra 22}

• When you want to feel better, love.
• When you don’t know what to do, love.
• When you want to do something special, love.

The greatest of these is love.

The apostle Paul wrote that these three remained: faith, hope, and love.

• Faith (a conviction, a belief, a persuasion) is something within us.
• Hope (an expectation, a confidence) is also something within us.

But love?

• Love (an affection, benevolence, good will) is something we give outside of ourselves.

Love reaches out to to meet the needs of others. Love cares about others. Love is vulnerable to others.

God loves us. So we love God and love others and love self.

God is love.
God is greatest.
The greatest of these is love.

Share in the comments.

You are on Day #20 of the series: Find Your Mantra {28 Daily Mantras}

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“You are never alone” {Mantra 19}

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“Say yes to this moment” {Mantra 21}

When I’m in bed at night and all is quiet, I’m disturbed if I hear a noise anywhere in the house.

But I’m not quite as scared if Jeff is right beside me.

There’s something comforting about not being alone.

I’m not sure exactly how it works, but whether in hard times or in good times, the presence of another person—and especially a person you love and who loves you—is a true gift.

It’s comforting to know . . .

You are never alone.

I’m not exactly sure how God works with presence.

But I believe the promise that God never abandons us. God never leaves us alone.

Embedded in God’s presence, God brings love and goodness.

God is someone I love and someone who loves me. God is a true gift.

For me. For you.

You are never alone.

Share in the comments.

You are on Day #19 of the series: Find Your Mantra {28 Daily Mantras}

• See the Mantras Table of Contents here
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Previous:
“This is not the end” {Mantra 18}

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“The greatest of these is love” {Mantra 20}

Our thoughts can be tricky things. To make sense of our world, our thoughts weave delicious stories, scary stories, explanatory stories.

But our thoughts often tell us false stories, too.

For instance, recount an argument you’ve had in the past with your partner. Do you both agree on all the details of what happened, what was said? Our thoughts are rarely (ever?) 100% accurate about our memories from the past. 

Our thoughts are also awful predictors of the future. We may think we know what will happen next or what will make us happy next month, but life rarely matches our predictions.

Even our thoughts in the present (whether positive or negative) can’t be fully trusted.

Do you ever think these thoughts?

• This problem will never go away
• She just doesn’t like me
• This day is perfect
• I’m not good enough
• I would never do something like that

Your thoughts don’t know everything.

Don’t believe everything you think.

Thinking our thoughts are always correct is an easy trap to fall into.

How can we counteract believing everything we think:

• Ask God for wisdom. (But even though God’s thoughts are perfect, we don’t perfectly understand them).
• Listen to other people (although don’t believe everything they think either…read about the Confidence Bias here).
• Be humble. Accept you have more to learn.
• Pay attention to different perspectives. There’s more than one way to see things.
• Realize you could be wrong. (You’ve been wrong before, right?)
• Appreciate the unknowable. Much of life is a mystery.

As Richard Rohr says, “Yes, the mind is very useful, but when it does not recognize its own finite viewpoint, it is also useless.”

Listen to what you say to yourself. But . . . 

Don’t believe everything you think.

This is my year of RELEASE, which includes releasing false narratives as I become aware of them—stories I unconsciously create in my head to explain why something happened.

Do you make up stories in your head, too? (Please tell me I’m not the only one.)

Share in the comments.

Read More:

• Is It Okay to Complain If It’s Only in My Head?
• How to Harness the Voice in Your Head
• Is Questioning Your Religion Bad? 

You are on Day #17 of the series: Find Your Mantra {28 Daily Mantras}

Previous:
“Make the memories good” {Mantra 16}

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“This is not the end” {Mantra 18}

We were packed. The trip was just hours away. But storm clouds were on the horizon.

Should we go anyway?

I know that experiences create memories. And I wanted to create memories.

But I didn’t want to create bad memories.

Maybe whether we went on this particular trip or not, creating good memories together was the underlying goal.

And I wanted to:

Make the memories good.

Not all our memories are going to be good ones, of course.

We all have faults and we live with people who have faults. We take those faults with us wherever we go. We dump them out on each other from time to time. Our world dumps its faults on us, too.

We aren’t in control of every circumstance or person. If we believe God gives each of us free will, while God cares about every detail, God doesn’t micromanage every circumstance or person. (Otherwise, the world would be overflowing with complete goodness and love.)

Bad experiences make bad memories.

We don’t have to like them. Or understand them. Even if sometimes bad memories become useful tools later down the road.

But as we live in this moment we’re in, at this time and place, we can ask God to help us make this day good, make this moment filled with love, as much as it depends on us.

Because today’s experiences become tomorrow’s memories.

We did end up taking the trip. And the weather was good this time.

So were the memories this time.

Make the memories good.

Share in the comments.

You are on Day #16 of the series: Find Your Mantra {28 Daily Mantras}

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“Oh, well. So what?” {Mantra 15}

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“Don’t believe everything you think” {Mantra 17}