Uncertainty

The uncertainty in the air is palpable.

In fact, one of the only things that’s certain these days is uncertainty.

My dad asked me the other day what Joe the Counselor tells me about dealing with the uncertainty of the future.

I said, very simply, that Joe the Counselor reminds me to be present right here, right now, rather than making up stories of the future.

Joe the Counselor is a mindfulness practitioner. Mindfulness is about being fully aware of what’s going on in the moment that it is happening.

Yes. It’s easy to say.

But it’s not easy to do. Especially when life is uncertain and uncomfortable…or when you feel guilty for being happy when the rest of the world is surrounded by angst.

And yet, isn’t this what Jesus calls us to do when he tells us to “not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)

Doesn’t Jesus call us to live fully in this day?

Oh. We can’t be ignorant about tomorrow. So much of life needs to be planned and prepared. But that planning and preparation must happen in context of today…lest we lose today to tomorrow.

For example. Today, I signed up for one week of professional development that I must do for next year. Part of me wants to complain that I have to spend summer break doing unpaid work for a year that’s going to look like none other. That part of me wants to sit and stew about the fact that my birthday will be spent in workshops. But the other part of me knows that I have a choice to accept that this is what I must do to meet the demands of a job that I am grateful to have and I can agree with myself to meet its demands next week instead of trying to do so now. I can live today for today. The workshop starts on Monday. Monday will come soon enough. Until then, I have a weekend to live.

The uncertainty in the air is palpable.

There is so much we do not know.

Yet right here, right now, is the moment that we have to live.

Let’s make the most of these moments, friends.

Amen.