This Present Little Instant
I’ve never been particularly good at living in the moment. In fact, I’ve been downright disdainful and judgmental of those who do. Oh sure, living in the moment is all right for babies and puppies, but real women constantly look to the future to make their lives and their families’ lives secure. Planning ahead is not just my middle name. It is stamped across my forehead and etched into the fabric of my life so indelibly that is seems that everything I do in the present day is only valuable if it leads to something else in the future. Always in the future.
I’ve been known to devote a lot of time to the past as well, in the form of regret, worry or nostalgia: reliving things that cannot be changed; recalling warm memories and nurturing relationships that are no more; surrounding a past event with a rosy glow or a dark shadow. Perhaps I come by it naturally or perhaps by training. In my chosen field of early childhood, being a reflective teacher is recommended as a way to examine our practices with an eye towards improvement. I often reflected on my collected notes and photos as I carefully planned the next day’s activities.
Dwelling in the past or anticipating the future is not the message that a clutch of daylilies in my newly-planted perennial flower bed is giving me this morning, however. Daylilies’ almost unnatural burst of bright colors and textures appear like tender jewels each morning. Gaze on today’s blooms while they sparkle. They will dry into shriveled husks with the next morning’s dawn. Tomorrow, there will be another… and another…and another lily to take its predecessor’s place, like some sort of nature-based tag-team. Lilies conspire to keep the present ever before my eyes, a philosophy that a religious scholar, Giovanna Giocondo, once described as this present little instant.
As I study today’s blossom, I set aside ideas about the past and future and consider Giocondo’s present little instant perspective on the immediacy of the Spirit: No Heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take Heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace!1
It comforts me that this advice comes from a priest who was also an architect, whose 14th century creations endure even to this day. Architecture, though rooted in the past, is a future-focused profession. Somehow amidst all his dreams and drawings of buildings that might be constructed in the future, Giocondo was able to capture the secret of experiencing the now: the willingness to be open to delight in this life as we live it, not as we hope to live it in the future or how we might have lived it in the past. This Presence, this Spirit, this Life I live comes to me in the Now. While I may anticipate a flowing stream of Nows just as the daylilies give, it still is only this Now that is truly accessible to me. It unfolds moment by moment. It blooms and blooms in a gold and magenta-tinged succession. Daylilies are so very aptly named treasures of the Now, reminders that beauty, the beauty of our Creator’s touch, is ever in the Now. Seize this present little instant, exhorts Giocondo. Taste and see that the Lord is good, says the Psalmist (Psalm 34:8 NIV). Is good… not was good, or will be good, but oh, it is so very good, right now. Giocondo’s wisdom flows again: Life is so full of meaning and of purpose, so full of beauty beneath its covering that you will find that earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage, then to claim it; that is all!
This single day lily is the first in a long succession that will bloom throughout the summer. The lilies will send up blossoms day by day as they settle into their new home, but this lily, this gift, is only offered today. Maybe those babies and puppies and day lilies are onto something after all. I reflect on the silent, tender lessons imprinted within each petal: The creative, flowing future is hidden in today’s energy and intention. The past cloaks heaven; uncover its beauty today. Now is blooming in this present little instant in time. I will claim this day’s wisdom and cherish this vibrant lily-shaped reminder to lay aside past worries and postpone future plans. It is today’s glorious ever- present Spirit who deserves my full attention. Claim it, Claim it…. That is all!
1 Quotes from the works of Giovanni Giocondo can be found at https://www.azquotes.com/author/27088-Giovanni_Giocondo
Reflection Questions:
How might living in the present moment enrich your daily reflections?
How do forward-planning or reflection on the past help or hinder your experiences with Spirit?
Header photo by Anastasiya Romanova on Unsplash
Text photo by author, May 2020
