Living in Right Now

This week, I’ve slowly realized that I’ve been looking forward to many different events and exciting things over the last few months. In March, the new Cinderella movie was a highlight in the entertainment arena, and I also got to fangirl hard at the Biltmore Estate and its "Dressing Downton" exhibit. April brought Easter and the always highly anticipated Secret Church gathering through my home church. And May was brimming with graduations (including that of my dear friend, Charlie Anne), birthdays, and family time. Most recently, I took a quick trip to St. Louis for the wedding of two dear friends, and my church hosted a Bible study conference taught by John Piper. It’s seriously amazing that it’s already June, and the sudden lack of upcoming activities has shown me how much I’d been, in a way, depending on the next thing to arrive to get me through the slower days.

Lovely azalea gardens at the Biltmore

Our night with Ella. I came away believing in magic, I tell you.

Look at the Book conference with John Piper. So glad I got to do it with this sweet friend!

It got me thinking about how we often do that in bigger life decisions too. Throughout childhood, we’re taught to always look ahead and make a plan. The next stage of life is always the “bigger and better” one. College is the light at the end of the tunnel for the high school student, and for the college student, grad school, a full-time job, marriage, or whatever else is when “real living” starts. It’s always the next thing, and we must plan, anticipate, and be ready.

But here’s my question: then what? 

That’s kind of been my frame of mind the past couple of days. After all these things I’d been looking forward to, I was suddenly without another big event to look forward to and I felt kind of restless by it. And that disillusionment is real in bigger decisions. Okay, so you’ve done college – the greatest four years of your life! Now what? Was that it? Alright, you’re married now. So what are you going to do now? I don’t in any way diminish how wonderful these things are, but I’ve been reminded lately that the future and those things we look forward to are made up of "right nows" and the everyday decisions we make. If you’re obsessed with the future, what are you living for and cherishing right now? I don’t want to be so focused on what’s coming that I’m missing out on the joys of today. Even if right now is not ideal, it is enough. And I want to be content with that.