We have a serious problem in our world today that seems to get worse and worse as the years role by.  It’s not just because I’m getting older and can notice it, but because I see it each passing day, week, month, and year.  We are moving too fast and we are getting to pre-occupied with so much that this life is moving by too fast and we are losing valuable time.  I hear this every year and have said it myself.  Wow this year flew by.  Have you ever stopped to wonder why it feels that way?  It’s really quite simple if you stop to think about it.  We are moving too fast and are too occupied with multi-tasking, wallowing in our past, and focused on the future that we miss something very vital.  We miss the present.  We miss the precious time with our spouses, our children, our friends, and above all, our God.  We forget the importance of loving in the present.  Loving now and living now rather than being stuck in our phones, our computers, our television, and the rat race in traffic trying to get that job.  Like Brooks says in Shawshank Rememption, “The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.”  That was back in the 50s.  Fast-forward to now and we move even faster.

This week, my son’s high school baseball team is playing in the 2nd round of the state playoffs.  We had to drive down to south Georgia, about 250 miles south of home to play.  While driving it hit me just looking at the speedometer.  We are easily 75-80+ mph all the time.  When I was kid, 60 was the norm, from what I can remember and it slowly go faster since then. That’s a prime example.  Yes, the cars are better and faster and more advance, but our lives are faster and faster now too.  Way, way too much going on all at once and it can do some serious damage to our lives if it hasn’t already.

Love in the present.  When it comes to our wives, we need to love them in the moment.  Love them now.  Pursue them and allow them to know that we value everything about them.  That we value their love and we value everything they have to say.  You can’t value them and their sayings when you’re pre-occupied by the game or pre-occupied by your phone, your email, social media, or whatever else you have going on.  Love them in the present.

Tell you quick story about a husband.  He loves his wife very much, but at the same time, he often fails to show it when she speaks to him.  He often times listens to her talk, but is either thinking of other things, or just doesn’t full engage to where he truly hears her.  When he has done this, it makes her feel unimportant.  It hurts her heart.  It also makes him look like a complete ass.  This guy is me.  It’s something I struggled with for a long time.  Maybe a guy thing, but not an excuse.  Guys we need to stay present in our the lives of our wives.  When they are sharing, stay in it.  Pursue her.  Let her know that she is valued and all that she has to say is valued and that you love her with every word she speaks.  That’s your wife, your other half.  Your chosen companion that you unite as one to bear the full image of God together.  Love her in the present.  Live your life with her in the present.

Quit living in the past or future.  We all have so much going on in our lives that we find ourselves jumping from one thing to the next and allow life to move by so fast.  We lose focus.  We need to slow down.  Living in the past is paralyzing to our lives and focusing too hard on the the future and what is always to come forces you to lose focus of the now.  Check out the video below.  As this man, Propaganda, learned from his father, we can’t hear past the explosions when we are so pre-occupied with our past or so focused on the future.  It only leads to stepping on land mines that are crippling and can damage our lives now, sometimes permanently.  Live in the present.  Be present today.

We only have one shot with the time we are given.  Time will slip away so fast if we won’t be able to get it back.  Multi-tasking is a myth.  Love the time that God gives us now and stop focusing on what was.  Jesus came to heal us from what was in our brokenness.  Trust in Him and you can “Go and sin no more.”  God is all about our love with Him now.  Yes, the reward is the Kingdom should we choose to accept Christ.  That life, that freedom, that eternity, begins now.  Trying to multi-task and doing a thousand things because you think you just have to keep going and going and going only adds to the pressures and only makes more precious time slip away.

Stay in the present.  Stay focused on the now.  Stay focused on where God has you and is leading you. Follow Him.  Stay focused on loving your wife, or your husband for you ladies out there right now.  Don’t let things in life become so distracting that we just let time fall away.  We only have so much time here in this life.  Choose to come alive.  Not by going and going faster and faster.  But by loving God and loving each other now.  By being present in our lives now.