Live In The Moment

Monday, I had the opportunity to speak with a good friend.  As we talked, I nestled into a chair on our front concrete slab while the sun warmed me like it was late Spring.  In the background, I could hear her little one chattering away, his nine month old language spewing baubles of sunshine.  My teacher twin's advice flowed and her joy was exuberant.  I heard all she said, but one sentence really impacted me.  In the last moments of the conversation, she said "above all, live in the moment". 
The phone call ended but her words rolled around in my head for days (obviously, because here I am now writing about the same phrase).  So, I ruminated and they echoed.  I lived and they crouched at the corner of my existence.  At moments the words were song-like, and then again, at times yelling past my mind's tendency to simultaneously plan the future and in doing so, allow the present to fall like sand through my fingers. 
She's right, my teacher friend.  In fact, God used her phrase to take me back to His word, the ultimate source of moment living.  For in these days of life, in these precious moments, He is still God.  He is still the ultimate source of peace, grace giving, thanks deserving, and joy.  My thoughts, my head, my heart turned to Him and resonated in His plan, which is perfect.  The following verses, dear companions for the past few years, once again soaked into me like water on parched land.
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God...and the peace of God, which surpasses ALL understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
*How many times have these verses bounced around my head, convincing my heart over and over?  Through the ministry of these verses, I've learned to cry out my requests to God, to trust Him with my heart's desires, and to lay them at His feet.  And yes, often, I've picked them up again, or at least tried to, thinking I could hold them, take care of them, really plan how they should happen.  But, always, His faithfulness caused me (sometimes forced me) to drop them and turn to His peace in being guarded by Jesus. 
And then, these words reminded me of who I want to be, a moment dweller. 
Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Beauty arrives in its time, blessed and predetermined by time's creator.  My ability to fathom is so small in the spectrum of history and even in my life.  Joy spills over abundantly, not only in requests being seen come to life but in moment living.  Anxiety flees only due to the peace of a God who guards me daily.  This God who guarded me so much so that His Son was willing to die for my sin and then, rise again with power over death. 
My prayer today?  To truly live in each given moment, for eternity to be set in this heart.  To breathe in February's sunshine and rainstorms.  To cry over heartache and to relish in joy.  To share fears but to conquer them in the knowledge that my God is sovereign in the midst of fear's presence.  Finally?  To embrace joy and His sweet, sweet giving of life.  To hug and love and smile and grow as He continues to freely give what is so not deserved.  But, most of all to find joy in the Joy Giver, to not forget His role as beauty maker, as I remain a resident of the moment.