The Power to Appreciate the Present

Sometimes we become impatient with the present. We see its evils, it uncertainties, it imperfections, and earnestly we yearn for a day when things will be different. It is proper and expected that immortal man would hope for and have faith in a better future⎯but of utmost importance also is what Emerson called a “respect for the present hour.”

No matter what far futures lie before us (and we earnestly believe that they are limitless and everlasting), yet always we live in the present. We may sometimes rebel at all the uncertainties and at all the undisclosed events, at all the disappointing parts of the picture, but those who are overly impatient for the future may let the happiness and opportunities, and also the obligations of the present pass them by.

Even if we could positively foresee the future, this wouldn’t alter the fact that we always live now. And happiness, after all, isn’t so much a matter of rushing the future, as it is of learning to “respect . . . the present hour.”

To be blind and indifferent to the possibilities for happiness here is too much like closing our eyes on an endless journey, and letting the passing scenery slip by unseen.

There is always that which leads us on, that which keeps us full of faith concerning the everlasting future, but an important part of happiness comes with learning to live each day⎯in the quiet companionship of loved ones, with useful work, and with gratitude for friends, for food, for each day’s protection, and for each day’s endurance.

Whatever we would change, whatever evils we would outlaw, this is our time, our day, our generation, so far as this mortal scene is concerned, and we had better learn to live and “labor while it is called today,” being mindful of each day’s opportunities and obligations.

Tomorrow may be better⎯but when it comes, it will be called “today.” “For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.” And one of the great lessons of life⎯one of the surest sources of happiness and accomplishment and usefulness and sincere satisfaction is the power to appreciate the present.