It’s Autumn, and the two big maple trees in front of my house have been shedding leaves for a couple of weeks now.  The front yard has the beginnings of a nice, thick carpet of dry leaves; and the gutters are filling up.  I have a leaf blower that makes short work of gathering up the leaves, if the leaves are dry, that is.  I was planning to work on that this weekend; but, nature isn’t going to cooperate as we have rain through Saturday.  So, with my plans gone out the window to conquer the leaves, I was starting to fret over it; but, then I came to my senses.  The leaves will still be there next week, and I will have come to no harm either way.

In my last entry on 10/10/18, I wrote about how the past and the future come together in the present, creating an eternity in the moment.  As silly as it sounds, the situation with the leaves and the weather I talked about before presents an example of what it means to find an eternity in the moment.  I could have found myself mired in an eternity of obsessing over the endless hours spent raking and bagging leaves in too many yesterdays that clashed in the moment with the anticipation of repeating the experience tomorrow.  My eternity in the moment was fast becoming a nightmare.  Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed; and I moved on to better things.  As I contemplated this and how it related to my origin, I came to the realization that true peace and contentment is found in the eternity of the moment.

Gazing at the glory of God my origin, I was amazed at the wonders found in the eternity in which I was meant to live.   God is eternal: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev. 1:8, NIV) When I look into God’s design of eternity, I see my reflection: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen. 1:27, NIV) I need not stress about what the future will bring: “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:34).  Abiding in that eternal moment, I live in harmony with my neighbor and the world: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you … Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27, NIV)

Ruminating obsessively on yesterday or tomorrow breeds unnatural desire, for the heart of man is easily corrupted by what was lost or that thing anticipated.  Evil is born in the crucible of such desires.  Adolf Hitler blamed the Jews, at least in part, for Germany’s defeat in the first world war, sending millions to their death.  At the same time, he wanted more “living space” for his master race and plunged the world into the conflagration of total war.  Let your heart’s desires be in the eternity of the moment, for as Jesus of Nazarath said, “… where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:21, NIV)

Let your heart’s desires be in the eternity of the moment, for as Jesus of Nazarath said, “… where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:21, NIV)