Carpe Diem: The Power of Now!

Reflection on James 4:13-17

13 Well now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we are off to this or that town; we are going to spend a year there, trading, and make some money.' 14 You never know what will happen tomorrow: you are no more than a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears. 15 Instead of this, you should say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we shall still be alive to do this or that.' (James 4:13-15)

How often do we hear this in church? We are constantly reminded that there is no time other than the “Now”. A very Buddhist concept and yet, so true regardless of one’s religious persuasion. In fact, it doesn’t even matter whether you are an atheist; the truth of it endures nonetheless. So what do we do, where do we proceed from this realization? Does this mean the past has no meaning? Of course not! If nothing else, the past has served as a proving ground of sorts for all kinds of false beliefs, attitudes, and actions. The prudent individual looks to the past for lessons learned. Life proceeds at a break-neck pace and one rarely has the opportunity to stop to reflect on events and choices we made in response to that moment. Sometimes those choices were correct; often times they were not. We only learn which they were through reflection. So it is useful, nay necessary, for us to spend some time reflecting on the past. There is a great difference however between reflecting upon the past and living in the past.

It is all well and good to look at the past and decide it was a better time in which to live. I find myself frequently coming to that conclusion myself, although the utility of the whole exercise is certainly suspect. If one is going to spend time reflecting on the past only to wind up drawing such a conclusion, the vital question that makes it all a useful exercise would be, why? The answers lie in the lessons learned as they relate to today. It is not a useless exercise to look to the past for life lessons. The danger lies in refusing to leave the past and deal with the present. A second danger is to romanticize the past and ignore the downside of life then. This is dangerous simply because the past no longer exists, it does not represent the circumstances one must contend with and confront in the daily life of the here and now. And let’s face it; our memories tend not to be unprejudiced and all inclusive. Rather they are selective, either favorably or otherwise, depending upon our emotional response to the particular time period or our experiences during that time. For some the 1960s represent a halcyon time of flower children, love and peace, sunny days of beach and surf, wide-eyed innocence and on and on: a veritable idyll. For others the memories are of a terrible war, governmental betrayal, racial unrest, young lives tragically cut short due to assassination, drugs and the crime that accompanies them, addiction and a loss of innocence. It all depends upon which events one relates to or one’s own personal experiences and emotional reactions to their memories.

The point is the past is done, it’s over. Oh it serves a purpose, warm fuzzy memories of times and people long gone. We can reflect back and learn from our mistakes and therefore make better choices and decisions in the future. Our past accomplishments are sand castles on the beach of life wiped out by the relentless march of the waves of time. And the future, who knows what it will bring? All of our dreams are like castles in the sky, with no sure base in reality. Much of the time we are tied to the past through wounds we feel others, or even we ourselves, have inflicted upon us and the romanticism of the glory years reflect our displeasure with our present circumstances. In either case, we need to learn forgiveness. We need to forgive those whom we believe hurt us or slighted us in some way, small or large, a hurt or hurts we carry with us as constant companions into all our todays. Our unhappiness with our present situation often revolves around feelings of regret and dissatisfaction with ourselves and therefore forgiving ourselves is often just as necessary, though at times much harder to accomplish. Ultimately, the point is that if we are not living in the now, we are living in the never – the past is gone and the future never comes.

How do we let go either of the past or the future? The answer, quite simply, is to trust in the Lord. We hear many times over, throughout the Gospels, that Jesus heals; all we have to do is to turn to Him and give our hurts and anger and disappointments over to Him and trust that He will heal us because of His infinite love for us. What about the future and all our fears and uncertainties, the anxieties and worries that bedevil us? James gives us the answer to that question: If the Lord wills it, we will live to do this or that. God controls the future, not us.

But I think the real pearl of wisdom in this short passage from James is the observation we are no more than a mist, a puff of smoke that appears for a little while and then disappears (James 4:14). Wow! If that’s not an ego-buster, I don’t know what is! No one can reflect on that and fail to be humbled by it. The gist of his statement is that the existence of any given human being is no more noteworthy than that of the tiniest ant on this earth. Therefore it follows that the present moment in any given human’s lifetime amounts to nothing more than a stepping stone between a past moment and a future one. It is important to understand that that present is not the future; it is merely one step out of a countless number of steps, each of which leads into another future step. As a consequence, it does not matter what you have done in the past, once you have taken steps to secure forgiveness for things that you did wrong. Nor does it matter what you will do in the future, as that future may never come to be. What matters is the present moment and what you do in that present moment. Are you making the most of every moment? Are you praising God, honoring God? Are you making the most of every now moment and will what you do make a difference in eternity? This single moment is the only one we have any real control over.

If we see ourselves as the puff of smoke James speaks of, then we realize just how important it is to do all God wants us, command us, to do in every now moment. Only a fool waits. I have often used the image of the Fates in Homer’s "The Odyssey" spinning a person’s future (fate) as a single, fragile thread that can so easily be cut in two with a scissors – an effortless snip! life ends – a snap of the fingers! and it’s over. Seen in this way, we realize how important it is not to waste precious moments in acts of ungodliness or unhealthy mental thoughts and attitudes. We cannot afford to wait another day to get ourselves right with God through an act of contrition and penance, participation in confession or the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or to speak with a spiritual advisor/director/friend – your anamchara of the ancient pre-Roman orthodox Celtic Church. Just as important as getting ourselves right with God, it is equally important that we reveal God’s love to others as well.

Procrastination, ‘putting off until tomorrow that which can be done today’, is numbered among the seven deadly sins as sloth, laziness, and it is one of the deadliest – literally! A mortal sin is one which destroys the soul and apathy, doing nothing when action is necessary, is a horrible weapon of the Enemy. Procrastination, sloth, apathy, laziness, fear literally paralyzes us, delays us from stepping into our vocation and most importantly, creates in us a reluctance to repent! Not only are we unwilling to admit we’ve done anything wrong; we are unwilling to change behaviors we know are contrary to God’s Law. We may claim that what we are doing or saying or believing is what everyone else does or says or believes. We may excuse ourselves with the argument that whatever we are doing isn’t all that bad. The worst however is the arrogant and totally unfounded conviction that regardless of what I do or say or think, Jesus loves me anyway. That part is certainly true but what is a total and complete lie is the implication that this means He will forgive anything I do or say or think because He is pure Love. All the responsibility is on Him and we owe Him nothing at all. None of us, as adults, would ever accept such logic as that from a child. We would agree I think that a child is responsible for their own behavior and, though we may love them it would be irresponsible for us not to punish any willful wrongdoing or rule breaking with specific consequences. Why should we expect anything less from our Father in Heaven toward us, His children? But these folks don’t and as a consequence, they refuse to assume responsibility for their own actions.

All of this procrastination shuts us off from what God wants us to do NOW. In this way, we allow the Enemy to keep us from experiencing and enjoying God’s love, friendship, and the joy of accomplishing whatever purpose(s) He has set for us. St. James said quite clearly, “When one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin” (Js 4:17). What’s not to understand? Sin cannot be redeemed any other way than by the sinner ceasing the action or thought that causes it NOW and by seeking reconciliation with God through genuine sorrow, regret, and a sincere promise NOW to never commit it again. When we have offended Jesus, we owe Him a heartfelt apology and we must have the confidence of faith to believe He will forgive so we can once more move forward to our next moment together. The question for you is this: What is He asking of you right now?