One sided balancing act

      I'm not sure where I heard this piece of advice but I know it was in my travels yesterday. Someone told me that that the only time we really have is the present. I know this.  I know we can cannot live in the past without missing the present. I know we cannot live in the now if we are always looking toward the future. So now is the time.

      I always looked at living in the moment as a balancing act. You want to live like there is no tomorrow but you certainly have to plan like there will be a tomorrow.  So many people put things off till tomorrow with great plans like the man in Jesus parable today only to find out they are dying or that they wind up getting hit by a bus.  For the most part our concerns apply to the expenditure of money or saving money. 

       There is however one thing we can never be stingy with in the now. We can never put off love.  We can't say 'I'll put off that volunteer work until I can afford to do so'.  We just cannot. We can't say I will work to all hours to the detriment of my family. The family will be missed. No one ever laid on their death bed saying 'I wish I'd spent more time at work'. The needs of love are always right here in the now.  Love cannot wait. Love does not require money, if it does it's called something else but definitely not love.  The great thing is that love is something everyone can afford to give. 

        My mother in law says we make plans, God laughs. The designs of our lives are so intricate and most often far from what we may have thought they'd be. Planning seems senseless. The opportunity to love is always there and always brightens and expands our future. Amassing money for the future without love is cold and empty.  Money can be a wonderful thing but it never can replace love in the heart or love offered freely.

         For today and everyday, keep your eyes wide open and look for the myriad ways to love. The only plan should be to be open to love and the opportunity to love.

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’