Henry Thoreau, whom we know as a poet and essayist, a deep and practical thinker, lived in the mid-1800s, from 1817 to 1862. When we think of those days, we see them as simpler—not as complex and rushed and hurried as ours today. No cars, very little machinery. There were no telephones, no electronics. We think it must have been a calmer and easier time. Yet people in that era were uptight. They were overworked. They felt rushed, they felt troubled. It seems to be part of the human condition. Out of his own century Henry Thoreau spoke to this:

Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life? We are determined to be starved before we are hungry.

As you know, he withdrew from town life and went to live on Walden Pond to learn how to live simply and naturally. In those quieter sur­roundings he became attuned to nature, and much of what he taught and wrote about later he learned from the natural world at Walden Pond. Here is something he wrote that I read from the pulpit at least once a year:

Nature never makes haste; her systems revolve at an even pace. The bud swells imperceptibly, without hurry or confusion, as though the short spring days were an eternity.

Why then should we be rushed? he asks, and he counsels,

The wise man is restful, never restless or impatient….Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each….Open all your pores and breathe in all the tides of nature, in all her streams and oceans, at all seasons.

The steam engine had just come into being when Thoreau was a young man. One day he was asked, “Don’t you think the steam engine is an improvement over the stagecoach?” He replied, “Provided it carries better people. Otherwise, it only makes meanness go faster.”

Today we are going to talk about a big challenge: learning to live in the moment—to be present to the present. To live in each day as each day happens. To be aware of the now.

This is a very hard thing to do.

If I were to count the number of years that I have lost because I was anticipating something in the future, I am sure I would get depressed. And as I have talked to many people over the years, everyone has the same problem. Such a hurry, such a hurry, going so fast. Always in the future, always thinking about what is going to be, always dreaming, dreaming, thinking ahead, not living in the present.

There are two words we need to avoid if we are going to live in the present. One word is someday. Someday I’m going to do this. Someday I’m going to do that. And for me it was, “Someday I’m going to spend more time with my family, more time with loved ones.” And you know what’s happened? Some of them moved away, and some of them have died. Someday—I short-changed life.

The other word is when. I remember that when I was in grammar school, I couldn’t wait to get to junior high school because in junior high school you were big and you went to different classrooms. When I was in junior high, I was looking forward to high school, because that’s where the action was; the real people were in high school. And so I waited until I got to high school—and then it was college, and then it was graduate school. And then “when I get ordained,” and then “when I get my own church.” When, when, when. But what happens with the whens? We spend time out there, and we miss what is going on in the very moment.

I wonder how many people right now, at this very moment, are present to the moment—are in the now, are aware of where we are and what we are about in this beautiful sanctuary—a place of sanctuary, a safe place, a place of peace, a place where we can drink in the energy of a vibrant Spirit. How many of us are present to this? I wonder how many people, as this sermon is being spoken, are making shopping lists, thinking about where they are going to have lunch and who they are going to meet later on today.

In Psalm 124, we find one of the strongest and most succinct calls to appreciate the moment we are in:

This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Note that it says: “This is the day.”  It does not say, “God is giving us a day where we can dream, where we can look forward to the future, where we can fantasize about all the things that are ahead of us.” No, it is “This is the day.” This is it. This is the day that the Lord has made. We have to respond to this day, this gift from God. We respond in gratitude: let us rejoice, let us find a way to celebrate.

I know that with this many people present all the problems of the human race are represented, from the highs of joy to the depths of depression, and everything in between. But we can still find a way to rejoice in the day. All we have is the present. That is the only reality there is. Yesterday has passed, and we cannot do a thing about it. Tomorrow does not exist yet, and we do not even know for sure that we will be here for it. But we do have the gift of today.

Jesus talks about this in the Sermon on the Mount. Some of you have been with me at the very place where the Sermon on the Mount was preached and you know the rolling hill that goes down to the Sea of Galilee and how beautiful it is. It is so impressive to be on that sacred hill. When we travel there on a church trip we take the Sermon on the Mount and divide into pieces, with each person reading a portion, so that we all participate.

Those of you who have been there can picture Jesus standing on the hill and preaching. You may not know this, but Jesus gave more attention and spoke more fully than anything else in the Sermon on the Mount to living in the moment. It might seem this is a trivial subject compared to faith, or love, or prayer. Yet it is very profound, because if we do not live in the day we do not really live. This is why Jesus gave time and attention to it.

Why worry? He asked. Why be anxious? This is a bad place to put your energy. “Look at the birds of the air,” He said. They do not have a thing to worry about. They fly up in the sky, singing. They drop down to eat a seed. They go back up—flitting around. They don’t have a thing to worry about because they know their Heavenly Father takes care of them.

Look at the lilies of the grass, how they grow. See how beautiful they are, swaying in the wind, these lovely lilies. Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Their heavenly father takes care of them. So what are you wor­ri­ed about? Trust that God is going to take good care of you as well. God takes good care of us. When we trust, when we really trust, and say, “Let go, and let God,” God takes over for us.

Jesus went on, in the Sermon on the Mount: Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will have its own problems. Instead, do what you can to deal with the troubles of today. Then He gave one more directive which makes all the difference in the world. Live in the day. Trust the day. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and everything that you need will be granted to you.”

We know what is important to God—love, faith. Embrace these and everything that you need will be given to you. Everything that is im­por­tant for you will happen, and God will take you from this moment to the next.

I learned something helpful about being present to today from a man who was very famous in this country one hundred years ago. His name was Sir William Osler, a Canadian physi­cian who taught at the famed Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He was a great teacher, beloved by his students. Once when he was asked to give a speech to the medical school at Yale University, he was turning over in his mind what he could say that would be of use to these bright and eager students. Then he realized that his own medical students, and probably students of all disciplines the world over, usually do not live in the moment. Their attention was scattered, always anticipating tomorrow, worrying about what they did yesterday. So he gave a speech called A Way of Life, which was published all over the country and helped make this already famous man even more famous. It was this speech which made such a big impression on me.

He took as his inspiration, first, from Carlyle:

Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance but to do what lies clearly at hand.

His other source of inspiration came from an ocean trip he had taken. He was on the bridge with the captain, who was showing him some of the ship’s controls, among them buttons that would cause each area of the ship to become watertight, so that they would be secure if there was any trouble. Osler got an idea from this of living each day in what he called “day-tight compartments.” This is how he described it: in your mind you take a pen and circle a twenty-four-hour period, and then live within that twenty-four hour period. Since one of the greatest things that anybody can do to make tomorrow a better day is to do well today, to do superbly well in dealing with the moment, then you will be rolling into the next day from a good position.

I have tried this and found that it really works. Sometimes when the pressure and tension get to be too great, I circle one hour. I have even, from time to time, circled five minutes—“just get me through five minutes!”—and I get from that five minutes to the next five minutes, and before I know it I have gotten through the day.

There is a story I have heard in several different places. This version is by a man named Robert Hastings. Deep within the psyche of every human being, he said, is the dream of a long and wonderful trip across the entire continent in a train. We sit there comfortably, looking out the window. We see cars on the highways paralleling our track. We see children at crossings waving at us. We see cattle grazing on the hillside. We see power plants belching smoke. We see hills, valleys. We go over rivers. We see lakes, we see streams.

All the while we are on that train we are waiting to get to a destination. We can barely wait to arrive. As we get closer and closer to what we think the arrival time will be, we begin to shuffle through our bags and look at our watches: How much more time is there? I’ve got to get there, because when I get there, everything will be resolved. I will be happy. All the puzzles of my life will come together. I will have arrived, and my dreams will come true.

What is the destination? “When I am eighteen.” “When I get a promotion.” “When I pay off the mortgage.” “When I retire.” Then I will be happy. My life will be the way it is supposed to be. I will have arrived.

Eventually, we learn that there is no destination. The station is always ahead of us. The train keeps moving, and the station is always outdistancing us. The journey itself is our destination. Every day has its fullness.

Better to sit back in our chairs and enjoy the trip, take in the view passing the windows. There is no need for hurry. The only moment we really have is the present moment. That is the only reality. We do not have yesterday, because it is past. We do not have tomorrow, because it has not come and it may not come. All we have is the moment. No more somedays; no more whens. One step at a time.

As Jesus said, everything will be fine if we trust God and understand that God is going to take care of us. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all things important to God, and everything you need will be given to you.

God bless us, each one, as we seek to take one step at a time, living in the moment, and experiencing the joy of life in the present. Let us pray.

Lord, for the gift of life, for the blessings of life, for the challenges of life, help us on the journey. Help us to know that there is no destination, that the destination is where we are right now. Let us be filled with Your Spirit, with Your love and Your living energy. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.