What are you doing at the moment?

A dear family friend called one cold, dreary morning this winter. We chatted about our respective families and the conversation quickly worked around to the Lord. It always does with Pat Day, world-renowned thoroughbred jockey and proclaimer of the faith.

My husband, Mike, and Pat became close friends during Mike’s tenure as Chaplain on the backside of Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Over the years they have stayed in touch and continue to lift each other up with encouragement and prayer. However, on this particular day, I answered the phone.

Our discussion keyed on “quiet time” spent alone with the Lord, and Pat shared something he’d heard from a pastor.

“The only time you can be with God is in the immediate moment,” he said. “You can’t be with him five minutes ago, or five minutes from now. Only now, this instant.”

Pat’s comment opened an avenue of thought that led me to God’s timelessness. The Bible tells us Jesus is the same today as he was yesterday and will be tomorrow. That’s something to count on. Jesus isn’t going to change his mind or be shifted by a cultural tide.

As occupants of this modern world, we are caught up in time and all its constraints. Though it is an intangible commodity, time drives our labor, priorities, and dreams. We have either too much of it or not enough. We spend it and save it and measure it, but we cannot grasp it.

All of us have heard the witty clichés about past, present, and future, but the scripture says, “Now is the day of salvation.” This moment.

“Only now, this instant.”

So what could be more important than pausing daily to spend some of our time in the presence of the King?

Nothing comes to mind.

What are you doing at the moment?


Scripture taken from 2 Corinthians 6:2 (NIV)