The
title is a quote from The Second Best
Marigold Hotel, a movie with an incredible cast. It features older actors
who are trying to find a sense of their lives in a well-worn Indian hotel. The
hotel manager is an East Indian with a flare for the dramatic in his desire to
build up the hotel. He is speaking to investors about partnering with him. The
idiom, “there is no time like the present” takes a fascinating twist to
“There’s no present like the time.” The investors seem interested and send an
incognito surveyor to check out the place, Richard Gere.
Near
the end when Maggie Smith who is the irascible widow is sensing the end of the
line the lead potential investor shows up in India as the hotel saying, “I came to pay my respects. There's nothing I
respect more than someone planting trees under whose shade they may never sit.”
Taking
these two quotes together it seems one of the themes is making the most of your
time in the present moment. This is also the theme of the now best-selling
devotional book, Jesus Calling, Enjoying
Peace in His Presence. The author, Sarah Young, is speaking about finding
peace with God in the present moment. This is a theological truth that God is
timeless, but we can only find Him in the present moment. The Serenity Prayer, on which I have written
also says, “to live life one moment at a time, enjoying every moment.” Why,
because God is in the moment. In 1 Kings 19 is the story of Elijah the Prophet
experiencing God, not in the powerful wind, earthquake or fire. No, God showed
up in the “gentle whisper” or “still small voice.” The prophet heard God, but I
believe you and I do not always hear God. We often are stuck in the past or
pressing on to the future where God is not present.
“Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When
you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without
judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness
means living in the moment and awakening to experience” (Psychology Today). My
healthcare employer as required training recently presented this concept for
all employees. Why so important? Because we are so easily distracted in this
world. Thomas Hardy’s novel “Far from The
Madding Crowd” gives us much to think about man and nature and how we
misquote the Bible for our own advantage.
“The instinctive act of
human-kind was to stand, and listen, and learn how the trees on the right and
the trees on the left wailed or chanted to each other in the regular
antiphonies of a cathedral choir.” Using personification the reader can find allusions of how
mankind talks at each other to gain position over another. This is one of the
main themes of life, taking advantage of situations and people. This is sadly
human nature.
Speaking
now of time, it is endless; we are not. Constantly we are trying to control
time. We can’t control anything, only God.
“There is no such thing as
an ending, just a place were you leave the story. And is your story now.” (Quote from Second Best
Marigold Hotel). Is it time for you to step out, look within, access God and
find out about your life?
“If not now, when? If not
us, who?” (Quote
from Second Best Marigold Hotel). Many attribute this quote to Ronald Reagan.
But Hillel the Elder, a Talmudic scholar in 100 B.C, first spoke it. It is really as expression of the Golden Rule
and reciprocity. Now may be the time, but first ask God.
“Now listen, you
who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year
there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what
will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a
little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it
is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:13-15).
Now may be
the time to act but trust in God to lead your path and not your own thoughts or
ways as Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us. “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when
that time will come”(Mark 13:33). Jesus is speaking
to us about being ready always for we do not know the time when He will return.
The most important thing we can do now choose Him as Savior and Lord. Without
that decision for salvation, all is lost to hell.
“There’s
no time like the present.”
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.