GC New Year’s Message

by Robin Caldwell

For I know the plans I have for you ," declares the Lord, " plans to prosper you and not to harm you , plans to g i ve you hope and a future. –Jeremiah 29: 11

I remembered some words I had read just 24 hours before my friend, Terrance, called.

“I have to live in the moment. I can't afford to live in the past and relive either successes or failures, and I can't afford to live in the future and worry about what might happen. The only time I can do anything about is right now.” --Pastor Rudy Rasmus

Actually, I only remembered “The only time I can do anything about is right now,” but thought to include its entire context in this paragraph.

Terrance, like me and other people in and out of my world, had just experienced the death of a loved one. He sounded like he wanted me to believe that he was just fine, but I could hear what he didn't say. And that's only because these days there are many things I am not saying with my mouth but can be read in my voice or even in my face.

Still, I admire Terrance and my friend Denise who recently lost her mother, because they are mourning but anticipating the gladness God has promised in His Word. They are making the transition gradually but with an expectancy that is bound to bring them joy in the long run.

Denise told me, “This is my new beginning,” and I understood precisely what she meant. When my grandparents died, I told a friend almost the exact same thing. I, in fact, added that I thought their deaths were the best things to happen to me, which alarmed my buddy to no end. It was hard to explain that I thought the Lord was using their deaths, and my grief, to bring me closer to Him – to grow me up spiritually. Evidently, that closed door was an opening for Him to do something else with me and for me.

I think my friend gets it now – right now.

This past year has been something else. For every triumph and victorious moment like new babies, marriages, promotions, etc., there have been some major losses. For me, one of my favorite uncles passed away; R&B singer Gerald Levert died as did Ed Bradley –giants known and unknown passed on. There have been tragedies of all kinds. I honestly don't know how to categorize this past year. I waffle between calling it life happening fast and furious or life happening on its own terms whether I like it or not.

When I shared with an associate that an author had passed away, she said that we are losing our greats one-by-one. I sighed at that remark. Part of me accepted her words as truth, but part of me did not accept those words as law. Immediately, I thought that there were many greats left, the greats who have passed on have only made room for the ones who are still here, right now.

To illustrate my point, I heard Myles Munroe repeat a story I've heard often over the years. He, in effect, said that the cemetery was filled with a lot of potential. Lying in those graves were unwritten and unpublished books; music we will never hear; buildings we will never visit because they will never be built; cures for diseases; sermons that will never be preached, etc.

Yes, I'd heard that story many times before, but on this morning I heard it differently. I heard it as though it was all about me; specifically spoken to me. I've got all of this potential and my fear is that I'm going to take it to the grave with me. Do you feel the same way?

As convinced as I am that there is no other voice out there like Gerald's is as convinced as I am that there is another voice, a different voice waiting to be heard. That voice belongs to my mailman or to that irritating girl at the discount store around the corner from my house. My mail doesn't come on time because that guy is not passionate about delivering mail for the postal service; he is passionate about singing. That girl only irritates me, because she is irritated; she is a frustrated vocalist too scared to do her thing and she is making me pay for it with her unhappiness.

Of course, there will never be another Ed Bradley, but there is some young person or even an older person filled with a burning desire coupled with major talent to begin a new generation of broadcast journalists who would make Ed proud. The author who died was an awesome talent too, but there is a book inside of someone, somewhere that is waiting to be written on a page and sold in a bookstore.

But you know what the problem is, right?

All of that potential, promise, passion, and purpose is buried beneath regret, fear, and anxiety about the future – a future that isn't even here yet. Sometimes I think our concerns are all wrong. Focusing on the past only causes us to live back there, like Lot 's wife. Focusing solely on the future, keeps us looking so far ahead, we put our passions on the backburner to care for a tomorrow that isn't even promised. The thing, I believe, we should be concerned about is right now.

Right here, right now.

During the days approaching the New Year, we will be writing down goals about everything from losing weight to buying a house to taking a trip to some exotic place. I love goals, so I'll have a few of those too. But given that life is short and so unpredictable, I think I'll be adding some activities that will lead me to live out my passions and my purpose on this earth. I think I'll be composing a Right Now list.

You see next year, I don't want to analyze the tragedies and triumphs of the last 365 or so days. No, I want to check off my Right Now list.

I think about every time Jesus healed someone and then commanded them to move forward. He sent them forward with urgency, the same urgency I believe we're to feel in our everyday lives. He told the Samaritan woman to “go” and the woman being stoned to “go” and each leper and blind person he healed, He told them to “go.” At the base of that command was RIGHT NOW. Do it now!

My request is that each of us, especially those of us who are Christian, devotes some time in our days to Right Now. That would mean consciously choosing to let go of the past and its grip hold on us. It would mean choosing to take our eyes off of the distance to enjoy the Right Now – the moment in front of us. And it would mean that each of us will devote some time to pursuing that passion God has instilled within us on a daily basis.

Right Now is fleeting. As this past year has reminded me, our days are numbered. So let's endeavor to make next year a Right Now year – a year of living in the moment and living without regret.

Sit down and start typing that book; take that class in songwriting; enroll in college to complete your degree; audition for that play … just do what God has called you to do RIGHT NOW!