now.

"it is not Him that is absent from us, it is we who are absent from Him."

Intern Geoffrey faithfully leads us in Lectio Divina weekly at Tuesday Evening Prayer. The lection tonight was from Matthew 6. The Spirit highlighted verse 34, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now.” It is probably more well known as “Seek first the kingdom…”

What a different way from my “what if’s” or “if only’s.” Future anxiety or past regret.

“The reason for stability? God is not elsewhere.” Esther de Waal, Seeking God. 65.

She also quotes Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, “You will find stability at the moment when you discover that God is everywhere, that you do not need to seek Him elsewhere, that He is here, and if you do not find Him here it is useless to go and search for Him elsewhere because it is not Him that is absent from us, it is we who are absent from Him.”

The here-ness of God is like his now-ness. His here-ness helps me inhabit place, to not wander (Benedict’s “gyrovagi”), to stick with my vowed-life. His now-ness helps me inhabit time. Not to wander back rehearsing my own failures or other’s offenses. Not to wander ahead in speculations and hesitations.

Anxiety and regret take me out of “right now,” my attention stolen by the past or distracted by the future. God is here. God is now. And now, so am I.