Slow Living: The Beauty of The Present Season
One could say that the constant human inclination to rush the seasons, is a sign that the human person craves the unchanging season of Heaven, where home is forever, and love is everlasting.
I think our society has a problem with rushing the seasons.
There's seldom time to give thanks, but time to prematurely secularly celebrate the Christmas season. If you notice, this notion applies to all seasons of life as well. Never content with the current season of life, everyone is constantly pining for the next. Slow down society, November is the time to give thanks.
So quick to celebrate the holidays secularly, there's no second thought about basking in the time to give thanks to Almighty God. November is for Thanksgiving, Advent comes next, and Christmas Day is Christ's birthday. The Christmas Season has yet to begin, and people are already celebrating secularly. - I get that everyone wants the joy that comes with Christmas, but joy without thanks is empty. Joy with thanks is fulfilling. Celebrate with intention, and let each season be what God intended it to be.
Slow living, is the way. There is beauty to be found in the present season.
When you're single, you want to be in a relationship.
When you're in a relationship, you want to be married.
When you're married, you want a baby.
When you have a baby, you want another baby.
When you have multiple babies, you want them to grow up, so you can get some rest.
When your children are grown up, you wish they were babies again, because now all you do is rest in your empty nest, while you wait for grandchildren.
And when it's November, you already have Christmas decorations up.
Never content with the season of life God has us in, we continually wish we were in the next, and when the next is here, we wish for following, and so forth. How can we wholeheartedly live in the present moment of life God has us in if we are living in a perpetual daydream of the future?
"The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day." - Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
I'll be the first to say, I'm guilty (as most of us have been at some point) of wanting the next season of life. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with yearning for the next season of life, especially when there is goodness to be found within that season; but sometimes the desire for what's to come prevents us from truly living within the present moment. I've found great beauty in slowing down to appreciate the season of life God has me in, with all the lessons that He's taught me, to better prepare me for when that next season of life arrives.
Instead of wanting winter in the middle of fall, why not just let fall be fall? Winter will come soon enough, but the fall you're in the middle of, will never return the same, it will always be different. So instead of desiring the next season, why not just appreciate the one in your midst?
The present moment is holy because the present moment is where the will of God lies. "The duties of each moment are shadows beneath which the divine action lies concealed."- Father Jean Pierre de Caussade
How do we discover what God's will is? By observing the duties of the present moment. What is God calling you to do today? Who is God calling you to spend time with? I think there's something really beautiful about unreservedly living in the present moment. There comes a point where you can look at the people beside you, whom God has placed in your midst, and know that they are God's will for you here and now. They aren't your past, they aren't your future, but they're your present moment, and this moment you have together now is beautiful, it's holy, and it's good.
Some people are only in our life on earth for a season, and that's okay because there is an eternal springtime ahead of us, where our relationships are unending, and where the season of love lasts eternally. The changing seasons of the earth, bring a sort of instability along with them, yet at the same time a sense of familiarity. We know that after spring comes summer and after summer comes fall; but then a lockdown is thrown in the mix, and the freedom of summer, for the faithless, becomes a sort of prison, and the human craving for stability and familiarity is disturbed by the unpredictability of life. Some winters are full of snowball fights, and others are full of snowstorms.
In Heaven, we live in an eternal springtime of the Resurrection, and there's stability in the fact that eternity is a continual season of life in full bloom. That's why we are to keep Christ as the foundation of our life. Amid the ever-changing seasons of life, we have He who is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever to hang on to, and that brings a real sense of comfort to our fragile, unsettled human nature.
One could say that the constant human inclination to rush the seasons, is a sign that the human person craves the unchanging season of Heaven, where home is forever, and love is everlasting.
Maybe that's where my inclination to rush the seasons comes from; my favorite month has always been May, and perhaps I'm simply yearning for that eternal springtime. I want to teach myself to live slowly and live in the holiness of the present moment. I don't want to rush the seasons anymore, but soak in the waters of the now. Because right now is so beautiful, and right now is the moment God has given me, and I'm so grateful for this moment.
There's this tree that I love, that has the most beautiful flowers blooming every spring. I wait all year for these flowers to bloom. I recently walked past this tree, flowerless it is, but the leaves are beautifully arrayed, golden and red for fall. I like when nature reminds me that God knows what He's doing, and that there's beauty to be found in every season.
Me underneath the beautiful tree in full bloom, during springtime.
"Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses. He sets the time for birth and the time for death, the time for planting and the time for pulling up, the time for killing and the time for healing, the time for tearing down, and the time for building. He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy, the time for mourning and the time for dancing, the time for making love and the time for not making love, the time for kissing and the time for not kissing, He sets the time for finding and the time for losing, the time for saving and the time for throwing away, the time for tearing and the time for mending, the time for silence and the time for talk. He sets the time for love and the time for hate, the time for war and the time for peace. What do we gain from all our work? We know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us. He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what He does. So I realized that all we can do is be happy, and do the best we can while we are still alive." - Ecclesiastes 3:1-12
"If I'm living in the future or I'm living in the past, I'm not receptive to the grace of the present moment. My mind is everywhere except in my own head, and then the imagination goes wild. You start limiting what you are capable of, based on past experience. You absolutely paralyze yourself. When we take the Eucharist, the Host is consumed. When we accept the will of God in the present moment, our will is consumed. The Host is dissolved within me, and the will of God dissolves my will. A perfect circle of union is established. Jesus gives Himself up for me in Communion, and in my daily life. I give myself up for Him. We mutually offer each other love for love. That's the Sacrament of the present moment." - Mother Angelica
There's something really beautiful about the sacrament of the present moment when you receive the Eucharist. "Blessed are those called to the supper of The Lamb." Upon receiving The Holy Eucharist, you receive Jesus in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Heaven dwells within you, therefore it can be concluded that the will of God is for you to dwell in Heaven eternally. We are destined for eternity, and the Eucharistic Sacrament of the present moment confirms it. When I receive The Eucharist, I often dwell upon the fact that the will of God for me in that very moment is to receive Him; and that present moment that I receive Him, is an eternally present unending one that I will discover again in Heaven. The Eucharistic Sacrament of the present moment is eternally present; for the will of God, is to receive God. This is a profound thought. One I encourage you to ponder on.
“It seems to me that I have found my Heaven on Earth, because my Heaven is You, My God, And You are in my soul. You in me, and I in You, may this be my motto.” - Saint Elizabeth of The Trinity
Jesus says, "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today" - Matthew 6:34. The grace that God gives us is grace for the present moment. For each day, each season of life brings with it new beauties, but also new hardships. When we are worrying about the future, we are torturing ourselves with something that we do not yet have the grace to deal with. Worrying about what's to come, is carrying a cross without receiving the grace God would give in that moment, that would enable you to carry it. Worrying and being anxious about the future is fruitless worry without grace. Worry is a barren tree, that grows no fruit. As Venerable Fulton Sheen says "All worry is atheism because it is a want of trust in God."
God is saying to each one of us. "Do not focus on the past; My Name is not 'I WAS.' Do not focus on the future; My Name is not 'I WILL BE.' Live in the present moment, for My Name is 'I AM.'" - Anonymous
So let's let November be November. It's time to hang up the Thanksgiving decorations. Save the Christmas decorations for December, and live holy the present moment.
Serviam.
November 10th is the feast day of Pope and Doctor Of The Church, Saint Leo The Great.
“The faith of those who live their faith is a serene faith. What you long for will be given you; what you love will be yours for ever.” - Saint Leo The Great