February for me is a month to rush through. It's a hard month. A depressing month. Something to endure rather than enjoy. When February arrives, I'm in the midst of winter fatigue. By the time President's Day arrives, I need more than a break from winter; I need it to end! Because February has so little to be commended for, I am grateful it's the shortest month of the year.
As I have pondered my relationship with February, I've realized that it's symptomatic of how I tend to view time in general. Often when I am traveling through my life, I'm looking ahead to what's coming next. When facing a challenge, I anticipate it being accomplished. When I'm doing a chore, I look forward to relaxing. When I'm hurting or angry or tired, I get my sights on feeling better or gettin comforted. In thinking about my relationship with time, I realize that I treat an awful lot of my life the way I treat February.
Such an approach is profoundly at odds with the desire I have to know and experience God. Since God lives in the present moment, whenever I look beyond the moment at hand, whenever my focus is on what's ahead, I miss out on being present to the One who is with me here and now. One of my challenges is to be more at home in the present moment and to discover the blessing of God in each moment of each day.
As February begins, I find myself being challenged by these words of the Christian monk Thomas Merton. "Love the winter, when the plant says nothing. In this mystic season, I want to remember to unplug the flashing lights and sip the long evenings, to breathe in the moon, dance in the dark, to love this winter nothing." For in doing such things, I might discover that God is present even in February.
--Bryan
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete