Now is happening right now

In fact you just missed it.

Uh-oh -- there it goes!

You missed it again.

See the problem? Much of the time, we are MISSING NOW.

We're living in the past: hating, resenting, regretting, trying to cause others regret. Or we're off in the future: wishing, hoping, dreaming, planning -- but not doing.

Usually it's some combination of the two.

With all that time spent in yesterday and tomorrow, when do we actually do today? How many of us are living, right now, as much as we could?

Even thinking -- neutral or beneficial though it may be in the immediate sense -- can get in the way of living. I know: I'm a lifelong thinkaholic.

The writer of Ecclesiastes warned us to "be not overwise." He warned us not to become caught up in the "vanity and vexation of the spirit" that comes with learning too much: "of the making of many books there is no end." (He ought to come back to life now and see a modern bookstore or library -- not to mention the Internet!) "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing..." but " ... [I]n much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow."

Rather than the endless paper chase of pursuing learning, Proverbs (traditionally held to have also been written by Solomon) admonishes us to "get wisdom," which begins with the fear of YHWH and knowledge of his law.

Rather than encouraging us to embark on the road of "ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," the scriptures were really given us to lighten our learning load -- to make things easier for us by revealing to us all the things we'd otherwise spend our lifetimes learning the hard way, or would never discover at all. So in that sense, thinking is very worthwhile.

But even then, too much thinking is mistake. You spend time and energy that might have been spent doing stuff. Not only does the excess time spent in thought rob you of now; it also leads to regret of the things you haven't done, as well as lending itself to worry about the future because of the pickles you can get yourself into when you don't act -- which leaves you with even less now to live.

The Bible tells us that if we are in Messiah, our sins are not only forgiven but forgotten: there's no need to return to the past in guilt or regret.

And it tells us to "take no thought for the morrow," but to trust the Eternal to supply our every need.

So what do we do? We worry, worry, and then worry some more, about those very things, plus a great many other things that are less important.

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might." Reflectively, thoughtfully, wisely, yes. But you have to do it.