Presence

No, that title isn't a typo. True, if I'd posted this before Christmas, it might be titled "Presents," but we're already eleven days into 2010 territory. By this point, some of us may have already attempted and given up on the usual resolutions. Eat less junk food. Exercise more. That sort of thing.

If you set measurable goals for the new year, I hope you're coming along well. My goal this year can't be judged by a bathroom scale or how many trips I make through a fast-food drive-through window. My goal is to practice presence.

Do you ever catch yourself thinking about anything and everything except the person who's talking to you? Your friend calls on the phone to tell you about a fight she had with her mom, but you're still mostly focused on the computer game she interrupted. Or the preacher is in the middle of his sermon, and you're thinking about the new guy in your algebra class. Does that happen to you? Yeah. Me, too.

Of course, at this point in my life I don't think about the new guy in algebra class, but I do get distracted. My mind wanders far from wherever I am and whoever I'm with, and I realize later that I wasted an opportunity.

So, I'm making it my goal to practice presence. To consider interruptions or annoyances or needy people seeking attention as part of God's design on my day. I can't say I've accomplished it yet, but I'm consciously and prayerfully trying. I don't want to come to the end of my life and discover that I spent most of it wishing I were somewhere else, with someone else, doing something else. This is the only life I have, and I want to live it fully and with gusto, building into the relationships I have and pouring myself into the work I've been given. Moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day.

What about you? Any goals to share? You have my undivided attention.

Love, Jeanne