Today

Every Thursday morning I have the privilege of doing "spirit-lifter" at our bridge detox centre. This morning I decided to introduce them to the Nooma DVD series ( www.nooma.com ) and used No 17 entitled Today. At first there were smart comments being dished out around the room as the DVD started. But as Rob Bell appeared and began to talk the room became rather silent. At the end there was a "mmmmm" around the room as they reflected on what they had just seen and heard.

I reflected too. I too went "mmmmm" as I sought to gather all the thoughts running around my head.

Here are some snippets of the DVDs content.

"Life isn't static, is it?
It ebbs and flows and people grow up and move away and graduate and lose their jobs.
And people that you love die, and some get married
and others don't and some get divorced and some get cancer
and things aren't how they were"

"He [Jesus] tells them it's a whole new day, everything's changed, and God's going to give them everything they need. He essentially tells them they are going to receive a new spirit, one for today and he promises them that they're going to have everything that they need for their new life."

"If you need to celebrate how good it was, then celebrate.
If you need to remember how great it was when they were alive, then remember that.
If you need to grieve, grieve.
If you need to apologise or make amends or you need to do something to make peace with how it was, then do it, but then, move on.

"If you live in the fantasy that you'll get around to it tomorrow, that you'll get around to them tomorrow, you will wake up and it will not be tomorrow, it will be yesterday and you will have missed it-you will have missed them."

"May you accept the past for what it is

May you celebrate what needs to be celebrated

and grieve what needs to be grieved and then,

may you receive from God a new spirit, one for here, now, today."

I can choose to wallow in the past, to try and relive the past, perhaps even to deny the past - or I can embrace today, choose to really live and in so doing make today count...for myself, for others and for the Kingdom of God.

I choose today.