New Day, New Gift

New Earth Beckons (8)

“Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.”  This wordplay, which I heard for the first time recently, has stayed with me as a succinct expression of a valuable point of view.  The person who shared it, within a gathering — as part of his favorite quote — was brimming over with enthusiasm and a sense of humor.

The obvious question we can ask ourselves is:  If today is a gift, what are we doing with this present?

The gift of today — and each new day — is a new opportunity to experience sequence.  Sequence gIves us a sense of “time”.  We have schedules to keep or projects to accomplish.  And amid all that, we can give to ourselves the gift of relaxation, recharging.  This may be the part of the day that most obviously (often) seems like “a gift, a present”.

However, our maximum power is in the present moment.  And the gift of present moments, no matter how we use them, is opportunity — opportunity to discern, to choose, to clarify, to accomplish, to gain insight, or send forth positive energy in myriad ways.

The day we now call “tomorrow” — when it arrives — will arrive as “today”.  So, too, the day after that, and the day after that.  On and on…

The clock, a human invention, serves scheduling.  The natural rhythms are simply cycles, around and around — the cycle of the day, the cycle of the seasons…

When we clearly focus within present time, we begin to experience outside of time — the timeless today.  And as the cycle of the day flows with natural ease into the new today — the new gift — we continue to experience “the present”.

There is a limit to what we can learn by looking at history.  And there is a limit to what we can discern about future.

In the present, however, within the gift of this day, expansiveness — in every moment — is possible.

The included photographic image is by Tritia Hamilton.