Carpe Diem

Confession, often times at the beginning of a season I find myself dreaming about the next. For example, it’s currently Summer. Today as  I was cleaning I got a whiff of one of my fall candles in the closet. I closed my eyes and it took me straight into fall. The beautiful leaves, the coolish weather (I live in Houston), the cute fall clothes, oh- and let’s not forget the pumpkin lattes.  Basically, all of the things.  

I have noticed this seems to happen often. At the beginning of spring, I’m dreaming of the summer. When the winter is here, I long for the spring. I fantasize about all of the beautiful flowers and the spring showers. 

There are also times I catch myself longing for and looking back on a season that once was. We all do it. We say things like, remember that winter that we all went to Colorado? Oh the snow was so beautiful. Or remember that summer in California that we spent almost every day at the beach… Oh the memories! But, That’s just it. They are meant to be memories not a place we lose ourselves daydreaming about. Though those examples may seem silly, there are often moments from our past seasons that can be harmful if we remain there. For instance, things like hanging on to a past relationship or obsessing over past achievements can keep us stuck in the past. We begin to “set up camp” in a place we were supposed to walk right through. You get my drift. 

I believe one of the biggest tools of the enemy is to distract us from our now, by keeping us looking back to our past for comfort. He wants to stall our forward progress. We dream of what could have, would have or what should have happened. The enemy wants to keep us caught up in dreaming about the past or the future, totally forgetting to live in our now.  The thing about dreaming is it requires us to be asleep. Our now is the only thing we can control. Now is the time to work. Now is the time to rejoice in the goodness of God. Now is the time to step out and do the work we were created to do. So many times we get so caught up in dreaming about what’s next or what was that we forget to move our feet forward in our current moment. Reach out your hand now. Make moves now. Learn now. Grow now. Your next can not come if you sit frozen in today. 

I often ask myself if Orpah would have had a story like Ruth’s if she would have been able to leave the past behind and walk ahead to an unknown future? What if she chose to trust in the God of her mother in law? What if she took that scary leap of faith? Ruth was willing to walk into the unknown, to risk being uncomfortable, and to work in the field. She was willing to trust and work hard now. She was faithful to God and worked hard. There was no promise of anything really. Honestly the days were probably really long and the future looked pretty bleak.  I believe it was because of her willingness to step out in faith that she found her redeemer. 

She didn’t just turn and go back to what was comfortable. She made one right move after another in her “right now” until she walked into her blessing. 

So often God has us in a season to learn something, but we are so intent on getting to the next that we miss the lesson. There are also times God has something amazing to give us now but we are still hung up on the victories of yesterday that we miss it. Wherever you find yourself today, I challenge you to take a second and focus your mind on your now. What’s going on around you. Are your kids playing at your feet wanting you to join in? Is your husband sitting across the room wondering if he still has your heart? Is your co worker going through a storm that you can encourage them through? Is God calling you to conversation with him while you sit staring at your phone mindlessly scrolling through your socials? Take a long moment to look around you and really see what’s going on in your world right now. I pray you find purpose today. I pray you find courage and strength to be all God has called you to be. 

Love y’all, 

Mellie