Living in the moment

We often forget to stop and smell the roses, to enjoy each step and moment of life. Taking each day as it comes and realizing each blessing in each day. We turn to forget what we have or what we have achieved, the blessings we currently have while hopeful for the future and other goals. Today I was talking to my husband whilst in the midst of our daily afternoon walk. We were reflecting on living in the moment, and being grateful for what is on our plate. We conversated on the importance of enjoying and being thankful in each moment, realizing small victories, and blessings. We ended up going through memory lane and I was talking to him about how God has been good to me and in all the moments in my life. I have seen what a blessing my life has been over the years as the Lord carried me through. I remember going to work and it was so cold and unexpectedly it rained so bad and I was with my mom in a taxi and I didn’t have an umbrella, luckily she had a plastic bag in her handbag and she gave it to me to cover my head. I was going to walk three blocks to my place of work in the rain.

I kid you not, It wasn’t fun and I remember praying and asking the Lord to bless me with a car because I was tired of walking in the rain, feeling cold in winter dressed up in many layers of clothing just to feel warm, the scotching heat of the sun in summer seasons. In my prayer I was not complaining I was reflecting and asking God and trusting him for a new season in my life. I enjoyed my years of walking because now I respect pedestrians on the road and I remember where I started too. I cherish the moments of walking because they were my time to pray and talk to God, I got to see an area well on my slow pace walk, those were humbling times. I got to climb taxis’ which it was my reading time as I commute to different places, I experienced using other forms of public transport such as metro rail trains (91) and Patco busses too. It was an experience I will not forget. I lived in the moment, appreciated what I had and how life was whilst hoping for a new season in its perfect time for me because it was going to find me ready for it. Our conversation went on as we reflected on how we went to church every Sunday without fail and we really walked a distance to the taxis’ from home and even when getting off to go to church we walked still but we remained faithful and remained humble, blessed to have what we had at that time. God is faithful and he answered my prayer and blessed me a year later.

Now I ponder on the blessings of each day, when I pray at night I open my heart to God and tell him how grateful I am to have a roof over my head, to have food on my table, cloths on my back and a warm bed. I reflect and wonder about those that don’t have, yet they live to see another day with hope for a better day and the miracles in that day. We are now in lockdown, we might be frustrated and asking ourselves when will it end, when will we be free to be outside and have fun?. Let us pause and see the blessing of time, the blessing of truly seeing your family and their real characters that you didn’t notice while others have been exposed too. It is a time to spend quality time with yourself, to truly face yourself, the person that you are, how you react to pressure, the goals you has yet, the life choices you had made, the lifestyle you were living to now having to be accustomed to a routine you didn’t really plan. How you adjust to change and how it has affected you. To see how have you truly invested in your growth, your family, relationships, spiritual life.

Living in the moment is about taking pauses to realize small blessings and victories in each day, taking account of your actions and reflecting on your decisions, patterns in your character and the person that you are. If you woke up early, started exercising, creating meals from home, watching movies together, noticing the hardwork your helper has to do daily, setting new goals, having a quiet time or giving your child a bath, listening to them speak non-stop, home schooling, having constant family dinners, whether you woke up in the morning, you are healthy, you still have a job, you have an income, you are alive, or able to rest because you were always busy and away all these are blessings in each day.

The fact that you can go outside your house, sit in the sun and get some vitamin D, read a book, make that phone call to a loved one and make an effort to connect, play with the kids, finally have lunch cause when you are at work you are have poor eating habits. It is not all bad, look at the good side as well. What great change has been brought in your life?. You might not have it all, your plans might have been disturbed/cancelled or delayed, you might have even lost your job, or part of your income even a loved one. Look at what still remains, you are here alive, don’t give up, keep dreaming. This too shall pass, but when it does may it be that we have learned all the important lessons we needed too learn, know who and what is important (set priorities), who has been real, how you have survived, what type of faith you had to have, hope for a better life, cherishing our loved ones and truly showing them how much we appreciate them, spending time with them and creating lasting memories.

I challenge you to live in the moment not only focusing on what you don’t have, tough as it maybe, stretching as it may be, our hardest moments birth our best lives, ideas, hope and faith. I hope that even when all hope is gone you will look outside and say to your self as long the sun and moon never take leave and forget to rise or set, I will remain hopeful. Be encouraged, be uplifted, we will enter a new season, nothing remains permanent even this pandemic or our situations and our circumstances. If you can, each day find one thing you are grateful of as you live in the moment. The best is yet to come.