Now

Yesterday I was able to go surfing in the afternoon for a few hours and it was fun which was odd since the waves were at an almost all time low. They came in infrequently and when they came in they weren't that big and yet with a little patience and some good timing there were some good rides. I took advantage of every wave that came in and rode it as far as it would take me since I knew I might have to wait awhile until the next one came. As a result I had a great time at it was wonderful to be out in the water.

While I was waiting it made me think about how we live life. So often we can miss what is right before us because we look at what we don't have and don't take advantage of what we do have. We can lose our gratefulness and our awareness of how God is blessing us now. Currently we are in a budget reduction here and we have less goods and services than we have had in the past. It is painful since we have so little already and it is tempting to dwell on the loss rather than to see what we still have.

Don't get me wrong, we need to process loss and be honest about what we are feeling, we just shouldn't let it dominate our time and energy. If it does we will be so miserable and then regret that we missed out on life. The same can be said if we live in the States, we can focus on what we don't own or don't have and miss all of what we do have and do own. We need to cultivate an openness to the gifts that are being given now.

For us the gifts are related to living in the tropics. We get to look at tide pools, go to the beaches (which are never crowded), be close to everything, go sailing and powerboating, pet sea turtles at the turtle pond, search for cool shells and whole host of other things. It would be a shame to spend so much timing thinking about what we miss about the States that we don't enjoy now. For example when we lived in the Washington it was always tempting not to climb something since the mountains aren't going anywhere. The fact is I missed out on some good opportunities and when we are here I don't want the same to be said about our life here. There is a pass I want to surf and a few places I want to dive and the key is to make the plans and simply go.

God gives us so many opportunities to live life now and we should steward those opportunities well so that we can live life in its fullest.