The Lester in all of us

This past week I started thinking about how much of our time is spent thinking about either the past or the future.. and how little is spent working diligently on the now, or just sitting and relaxing in the present. When we wake up in the morning, our focus is on the class that we have in a couple hours..when we get to class, our focus is on the hour and 45 minutes we have left until class is over.. when we get out of class, our focus is on getting to lunch. When we're at lunch, our focus isn't on lunch, but what we have to do/where we have to go after lunch. And on and on that goes all day until we lay down in bed and think about what we have to do tomorrow. The only time we have is *right now*. There's the terribly cliche proverb "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present".. but you know what? The reason it's so cliche is because it's so true. I don't think we even realize how little of our thought process is focusing on the present. I'd encourage you to take at least 15 minutes this week to just sit.. on the roof, in a park, on your bed, whatever. Enjoy what God has given us, right now. Maha...this reminded me of a poem I wrote last year.. it's not much good, but it gets the point across -

Daytime
Nighttime
Sometime
Anytime

There's no time
Like this time
There's no time
Like now
The past has already happened
It's no use to regret
The future's already determined
There's no need to fret
So live your life in the present
This moment is all you have
Do good in the time that's given to you
Serve the one that created you
Then comes the time
Sometime, anytime
When you're called home
It's then you rejoice.

God brought two things to my attention yesterday that are somewhat related to my week-long thought process on that subject. The first was at bible study last night.. we were talking about Matthew 6:19ish. About not storing your treasure on earth, but in heaven instead. I think most people take this to mean that as we do good works here on earth, we're storing up treasures and glories for ourselves up in heaven, that we'll receive as soon as we leave our earthly bodies and transcend to that glory. But I think that's a bit to cut and dry (and Catholic) for God. What I take it to mean that our focus should be vertical/transcendental instead of horizontal, no matter *what* we're doing. Work, school, relationships... they should all keep heaven in mind. By doing that, we're keeping our treasure in "heaven"..or, the spiritual world. Not necessarily the place with the golden gates and paved streets. A way we can do that is by living in the *now*...remember, it's called the present right? That's a treasure. Live in the now, focused on God.

The second reminder came in a bit less "religious" form. I was reading "Where the Sidewalk Ends" yesterday morning, and came across the poem "Lester". It's so true, and so applicable to all of us. Not only does Lester have his "treasure" on earth, but he's constantly preparing for the future by trying to store up as many wishes as possible, instead of using them in the present. I learned a lesson from this boy Lester. You probably could too.
-----

LESTER

Lester was given a magic wish
By the goblin who lives in the banyan tree,
And with his wish he wished for two more wishes--
So now instead of just one wish, he cleverly had three.
And with each one of these
He simply wished for three more wishes,
Which gave him three old wishes, plus nine new.
And with each of these twelve
He slyly wished for three more wishes,
Which added up to forty-six--or is it fifty-two?
Well anyway, he used each wish
To wish for wishes 'til he had
Five billion, seven million, eighteen thousand thirty-four.
And then he spread them on the ground
And clapped his hands and danced around
And skipped and sang, and then sat down
And wished for more.
And more...and more...they multiplied
While other people smiled and cried
And loved and reached and touched and felt.
Lester sat amid his wealth
Stacked mountain-high like stacks of gold,
Sat and counted--and grew old.
And then one Thursday night they found him
Dead--with his wishes piled around him.
And they counted the lot and found that not
A single one was missing.
All shiny and new--here, take a few
And think of Lester as you do.
In a world of apples and kisses and shoes
He wasted his wishes on wishing.

-Shel Silverstein