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"I believe that this convergence is a moment-by-moment thing. If I were to come up with a process for convergence then convergence wouldn’t be the focus ― the process would be. Humans are such a process-focused species."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 170.
Moment by moment. I believe this is the key to living like the victors God made us to be. It is when we live in the past or fret about the future that our ability to be exactly what God sees us as becomes something we really do need to worry about. The here and now is all we have the ability to completely deal with. It is as we interpret our here and now through the lens of the past or worry about how the here and now will propel us towards the future we want that victim thinking is so easily entertained in our lives.
A group of friends and I were talking about the power of living in the moment this past week. As we were discussing how difficult it is to just be in every moment of this life, I saw one of the guys grab his phone and start sending a text. A few seconds later each of our phones buzzed as a test was received. As we all have been trained to do, we ignored the amazing things happening at that moment and chose to let the text we all received divert our attention. What we saw was something that I have gone back to time and time again.
My friend was the one that sent us all that text. It was a picture of a man wearing a watch. At the top of the picture was the headline that read, "World's Most Accurate Watch." As we looked closer at the watch, we saw a digital time piece on a man's wrist with the word "NOW" displayed on the face of the watch. The most accurate watch shows the most important time we need to be concerned with - NOW.
Time plays a critical role in victor living. It is when we live in the time that is this moment that we stand the best chance of making victor living happen in our lives. Victim thinking happens as we look at time from the perspective of it being wasted in the past or too short in the future. Both the past and the future are impossible to control. It is in this moment that we have the chance to exercise the control over our lives we desperately want.
Why is living in the moment so important for our victor status? Because God says so. Check out today's reading with me now.
Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
God is pretty clear on timing in this verse. He starts today's reading with a command. He wants us to forget the things of the past. He's not saying to forget the lessons learned from our past. What He is saying here is to forget those things that make us feel like we just don't measure up. Learn from the regrets of the past but don't let those regrets make us feel like He somehow doesn't care for us. What we have done isn't the basis for who God sees us to be. Don't let the past be more than it is suppose to be in your life.
Then God says one important word needed for us to be victors in this life of ours. God tells us to, "See!" He wants us to open our eyes. He wants us to see what He sees. He wants us to see what He is doing. Notice He doesn't say what he WILL do! No, he commands us to see what He is doing right here and right now. It is this moment that has the power for change in our lives. Change has nothing to do with what has happened or will happen. Things can be different in our lives if we can see the power of the here and now.
Of course, everything that is happening now will build to something in the future. That's just a natural course of action in this world we call home. It is when we are so focused on the future that we miss the miracle of this moment. When that happens, the power of the here and now makes our future that much harder to make happen.
If the Bible weren't enough to get us to focus on the here and now, listen to some classical authors expound on the subject.
Henry David Thoreau said, “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”
Walt Whitman said, “Happiness, not in another place but this place...not for another hour, but this hour.”
Emily Dickinson said, "Forever is composed of nows.”
Now is your time. This is your place. Allowing all the times in the past that you have fallen short to be what guides you is a fools errand. Taking time to worry about what will come makes time lose its power and punch. Now is all we have. This is where we can most clearly see who we are and who this God is in our lives. God gets misinterpreted by trying to see Him in our past. God just can't be seen in our future. This is the only place we can see and experience this God that calls us His Child.
When you feel the usual pangs of guilt from the past or the all too familiar feeling of anxiety about the future, maybe it is time to just stop and enjoy the moment. Acknowledge the pangs of guilt and/or the feeling of anxiety and then breath God in deeply. It is this moment that He has made you for. Good news is that He will be there in the next as well. Let Him into this moment with you. Then do what today's reading admonishes us to do. See! Open your eyes and let them see the amazing things that are springing up right now all around who you are in God's eyes.
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