right now

I watched a Rob Bell video last night from the Nooma series called "Today". He talked about how often we live in the past and think of the "good times" and oh how remember when.. oh those were the days weren't they? How we hold onto things, memories, people, and lose track of living today.

I was thinking about it as I was walking home today after buying some milk at a store by my house. I was looking around at the apartment buildings and houses. Thinking about how great it will be when I'm a therapist.. and what it'll be like to be a pastor.. and what writing my final paper will be like for grad school.. and what it'll be like when I own a house and a dog...

Don't get me wrong, it's good to think about those things. But I feel like I've been thinking like that a lot lately. Focusing on what the future will be like, or thinking about what the past was like.

Then I stopped. I thought about how cool it is that I live in one of the greatest cities in the country (in my humble opinion anyway) and about all of the amazing blessings I have in my life right now. This moment. Not 3 months ago, not 3 years from now. Right now. I am so blessed I can't even stand it.

We miss out on what is happening right now when we're looking backwards or forwards. Appreciate the past, be excited about the future, but live right now.