“I still had to remind myself not to ignore the present — right there in front of me, begging for attention as I carelessly looked backward and forward.”  Educating Alice … Adventures of a Curious Woman by Alice Steinbach

Educating Alice is a story about a reporter who decides to travel the world by herself … no strings attached, discovering on her own what she could about the world.  Although most of us do not have the luxury or the funds to do that, I was encouraged by the book to pay more attention to all the amazing things to take advantage of in my own area.

It’s our attitude about the moment that makes the difference.  The quote above was made when Alice was in the middle of a cooking class at some famous place, but it could just as easily be at your local Junior College or Culinary School.  She says, “But the unrelenting demands of cooking — particularly under the watchful eye of Chef Moreau — had the power to shut out everything except the reality of the moment at hand.”

We ought to live every single moment like that whether we are taking a class, teaching a class, cooking a meal, cleaning our closet, taking a walk, working on a project at work, creating something.  We need childlike passion for the moment.

For example, as I write this I try to envision you out there who are reading the blog …. a cup of coffee in hand, still in pjs before work.  I look out the window before and see the bright sun shining over a snowy back yard.  I taste my own coffee and feel my own warm socks on my feet and appreciate all of those simple pleasures.

When will we ever get it through our muddled heads that joy is found in this very present instant?  And then the next.  I like the way Dr. Luke says it in the “Acts of the Apostles.”  “In Him we live, and move and have our being.”  That’s present tense.  It doesn’t say we lived or we will live .  That means right this minute.  Now.  So today, let’s not ignore the present moment right in front of us “begging for attention and instead, live it fully, whatever we’re doing.”

“For in Him we live, and move and have our being.”  Acts 17:28