The Now Box

             Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 16:9-11)

 

          To begin - it’s March. <Wail of anxiety>.  OK, maybe it’s only a whimper. At the end of the month, I’ll be headed north. I know it’s really no big deal. I’ve done this for nine years, but it’s a big change and therefore a source of stress. And that’s a perfect “little” example of the truth of this passage. I’m somewhat stressed about something coming up because it’s the focus of my attention. If I were looking at the things that I’ll be doing once I get there instead of at the prospect of getting from here to there… well I’d still be stressed because there are lots of things that I’m looking forward to doing, but they are more of an “eu-stress” or a good stress. It’s all in the attitude.

          The same idea applies to things that are longer than a month away. If we’re thinking rightly, we can rest secure and even look forward to death, because we know God will take care of us. We will not see decay of anything we need. We will find the path of life. We will be filled with joy in His presence and with eternal pleasures at His right hand. But what does that mean and how can we really be as excited about it as, for example, gardeners are right now about the coming spring?

         This is a time of year I usually start dealing with HU!NY! (Hurry up! Not yet!) Today, an idea came to mind that may be bigger than I have considered so far, and I suspect it’s from God. The idea is the “Now Box.” Several years ago, when I was struggling with envy, God asked me if I was willing to accept the choice He had made for me for now. In that case, the Now Box might be a few years long or the rest of my life. In my current “getting close to time to go home,” the Now Box has a definite ending. It does some good to prepare but not to get wrapped up in what’s not in the Now Box now.

          The other part of this is that I tend to see what’s in the Now Box as extending eternally. If you were to ask me about what heaven will be like, I wouldn’t tell you that it will be just like here and now. But I will likely tell you something about it being a place where God is manifested and His will is done. I pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in my life as it is in heaven,” because if His will is being done in my life, then His will is being done on earth. And I mean it, but I’m not sure I really believe that His will is being done in my insignificant, very human life. I mean, if miracles were happening, it would be different. See how easy it is to step into godhood? It’s only if God is entertaining me and pleasing me by performing miracles that I can see His will being done? Even I can see that it makes no sense, but isn’t that the sort of thing we do?

          I’m not sure what to do with all this yet. I know we need to learn to live in our Now Boxes. I know we need to recognize that our Now Boxes aren’t built to last forever, and to live in the light of eternity while simultaneously living in our Now Boxes. I’m not as sure how to put that in practice.

                                                     A Now Box?