Psalm 118:24: “This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
I am a planner. I love to make lists and look forward to figuring out what out what I’m doing in the future, be it near or far. On my seven week trip to India last year, I was barely two weeks on before I started to plan what I would do when I got home. As soon as I was accepted for this trip, I had a packing list written, almost eight months in advance.
Even now, as I get to know my squad mates, there are thoughts of what will happen after the Race. I don’t know what will happen next December when this trip is over but it’s fun to hypothesise, to lay loose plans that will change on whim or disappear when our minds get fixated on something else.
As I have been spending time getting to know the people I will spend next year with, I have become aware of the people that I am spending this year with. My mind has been so caught up in the future, making plans and discussing ideas, that I have been missing my present. I’ve been missing the moments that have been given to me to enjoy and to make the most of. I think forward to the end of the year, when I will leave my family for the biggest adventure of my life, and I miss them. Even last night, as I lay in bed in the room I have shared with my sister for the last 24 years, I miss her. I wish we had more time together. It’s as though I only have a few more days left with her instead of five months. That is when I realised that I was missing out on the present by looking forward to my future.
How can I rejoice and be glad in what I have been given and what I have in my hand, when I look forward to what I don’t yet have? I have been missing moments that have been given to me to enjoy because I have been too caught up in the adventures that, I have deemed, are superior to my life at the moment. My days look much the same as each other: Wake up, eat, go to work, come home, eat, go to sleep. Routine that some days seem like it will never end. By dwelling on what I think is a necessary evil, I have missed the moments of joy in each day. I have passed over the small moments of each day that can have a big impact on people’s lives all because all I was trying to do was move to the next destination. Who says that where I am isn’t the destination? That where I am, working as a cleaner in the hospital, isn’t where God fully intends me to be- where I can impact those around me and they can impact me. Where I can develop meaningful relationships with my workmates, as well enjoying every moment that I have left with my family.
I know that this time next year, when I am physically, spiritually, and mentally tired, that I will miss the ‘boring’ moments. As homesickness sets in and everyday is a struggle, I will regret not putting the effort in because I was too caught up in my future. These moments aren’t boring. I have been given these moments and I will rejoice and be glad in them.
