I do know a girl who used to observe the information religiously. She would get caught up in the newest mandate, scandal, or expose till it took over all her waking hours. She obsessed over these tales till she was so extremely anxious, she forgot the right way to stay.
A number of months in the past, she discovered her husband has most cancers. All the vitality she used to spend on the information, she now spends caring for her husband. Although it’s a scary and hectic time, they’re each stunned to note the absolute energy in being current to the second.
The worries about politics and pandemics are gone. It is obvious what’s most essential: one another.
The factor is, this was at all times true, however now she is pressured to stay in the current second of physician appointments and chemo and naps and one another.
It has been in this slowing down, in placing away work lists and turning off the information, that my buddy has found the right way to stay once more. In the current second, she has discovered God. She has discovered his presence in this time. Strangely, as an alternative of the nervousness she felt earlier than, she has discovered peace.
Franciscan friar Richard Rohr has seen this phenomenon. He writes that, “Western people are goal-oriented…we can’t imagine doing anything that won’t get us something.” Sometimes, as soon as we take away the busyness, we uncover God has been there the total time. Rohr says, “God is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. As we take another it means that God is choosing us now and now and now.”
This is what my buddy is noticing. She can now not stress about the previous or fear about the future. She should depend upon God for every breath she and her husband take.
I consider that point the disciples have been caught up in a livid storm. Waves have been breaking over the boat, they usually have been frantic. Jesus was there. He is at all times there. He was sleeping whereas they ran round frenzied. I think about the disciples working into one another, bailing water overboard like one thing out of an previous slapstick comedy or cartoon. Then they awoke Jesus. I think about them clinching his gown, yelling, “Don’t you care that we are perishing!?” In response, Jesus received up and instructed the waves to be nonetheless. The wind stopped, and the sea was calm. “Why are you afraid?” he requested the disciples. “Have you still no faith?”
Have we simply been working round in a frenzy?
God is at all times right here with us—even now, in this current second. This is the place we’re alleged to be. In storms, in most cancers, in pandemics, and in naps, God is right here. Breathe.
In this current second, pray.
As you inhale: I cannot be afraid.
As you exhale: You are right here with me.
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