“LIVING FOR THE MOMENT OR IN THE MOMENT?
My daily affirmation for today is as follows: “Today, by the grace of God, I will focus on the good stuff about God, other people, the world, and myself.”
When I sent my sponsor this affirmation, he commented, “My attention for your affirmation is focus. To me it means living in the moment.”
I replied, “Dear ______,
That is a very good point.
Living only for the moment has gotten me into a lot of trouble in the past, and the results of such living persist to this day.
However, living in the moment is a very good thing.
Prepositions matter! (I think I feel a blog post coming on! Or, perhaps it’s just the flu.)”
Of course, I may be splitting grammatical/lexical hairs here. However, I don’t think so. Here is how I would differentiate between “living only for the moment” from “living in the moment.”
Living only for the moment is another way of speaking of “instant gratification.” And instant gratification doesn’t particularly gratify anyone in the long haul. This kind of “living in the moment” means manipulating other people and reality for my own short-term enjoyment. Such short-term enjoyment obviously feels good “in the moment.” If it did not, who would ever engage in it? However, the enjoyment is very short-lived.
But this form of living “for the moment” has huge long-term costs. It harms other people, and leaves an empty place in my own heart—an empty place that I try to fill by the very short-sighted, immediately gratifying attitudes and actions that created that empty place in the first place.
And voila! An addiction is born and nurtured!
Living in the moment creatively is another matter altogether. Living in the moment in this sense means experiencing the present in an open and caring manner. It means cherishing (or at least enduring) the moments as they unfold. It does not mean ripping present moments out of their larger context of relationships and future plans. Rather, this kind of holy “living in the moment” means enjoying the moments as the good gifts God has given to us.
So, for today, moment by moment, am I going to live only for the moment, or am I going to live in the moment?
And how about you?
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