Present

A couple of years ago, my mom's doctor took me politely aside to give me a little bit of advice about memory loss with my mom struggling with dementia.  That counsel was worth more than the doctor could ever know. The neurologist shared that in some ways my mom's world was getting smaller, day by day and bit by bit, losing memory of the past and not thinking about the future.  But, rather than fret, the doctor told me that the present is what is always with my mom.  Make it the best for her.  The doctor told me to celebrate the little things, the daily things, the smiles of the present as the past fades and the future loses enticement for my mom.  

As I look back, that was some of the best advice I had ever received.  It was a gift because most of the time, I ignore the present, letting my past failures hold me back from the here and now and my future worries taking away the enjoyment of the moment at hand.  In some ways, my mom's view of life shrunk but in other ways, it expanded dramatically because she was fully alive in the present, much more so that I am (and I suspect many of us are).  So many of us are so worried about the future that we can't live fully in the present, and so held back by the past, that we don't let the present free us to be more than who we were yesterday.  

It's a lesson that I am trying to live.  Take more time in the moment, to smile, to enjoy one another, to laugh a bit and to cry a bit, to share in relationship with others.  Put simply, we only have the present.  But oh what a gift! Let's make the present full of life - for our students, our communities, and ourselves too. It's a wonderful present to give to ourselves and to share fully with each other. (Scott Johns).