“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” Mother Teresa
{scroll down to download today’s free printable.
my images are free goodies for you to enjoy & share.}
I woke up tired. It had been a tough week on my heart post-Mother’s Day. But, I was looking forward to the weekend. But, when Saturday finally came, I didn’t feel like doing anything.
This happens so often: a great idea stays in my head, but when space presents itself, I don’t actually enjoy the things that inspire my soul.
I think we are a generation of over-thinkers. We often carry a mental checklist of where we are in different categories of our lives. And we become imprisoned by what’s next — or figuring out what could be, should be, or ought to be next.
We are a generation who doesn’t know how to live in the now.
We drive ourselves to exhaustion, hyper-analyzing what’s next, how to get there and what we can do for Jesus.
We miss out on experiencing what Jesus has for us today.
We often worry about tomorrow. But, what if our next step could only be discovered by experiencing what Jesus has for us today?
Jesus longs for us to live an inspired life. Now. As we are. As is.
Jesus whispers —
“Come to Me, You who are weary laden. And I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:28
Jesus longs for us to rest and be with Him. Right where we are on our journey. To share our burdens with Him.
The Inspired Now Life comes to us when we let go of our frantic efforts to be someone different in the future — more loved, more perfect, more accepted, more (fill in the blank) — and discover how God is inspiring us to live today.
God created us to be inspired by life today. That is why He is the God “I am.” Let’s free our hearts free to experience God this way. Here are 3 Steps To Live in the Now.
The Inspired NOW Life: 3 Steps
1. Just do the next thing you know — right now — even if it leads to what you don’t know. Let go of your plans and your timing.
One thing God is inviting me to do is to let go of my plans. To let go of my need to know what’s next. God is inviting me to be inspired to follow Him right where I am.
Now.
Now is very powerful. It turns our face away from staring into the future, trying to divine what will happen, in order to avoid hurt and guarantee success.
Now invites us to choose who we will be today. And align our choices to who God created us to be, right where we are.
Now gives Jesus access to the authentic-and-true me.
“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.” Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” Matt. 4:13, Prov. 27:1,
2. Embrace who you are now. Let your current struggles and passions guide you to make choices to experience God’s love for you, rather than do things out of fear of what others would say about you.
Now lifts our hearts away from the guilt of our past. Now values all parts of your story. Now gives God access to shaping your heart today.
Now gives us permission to accept who we are, instead of who we wish we could be. So we can be free to choose what moves us, heals us, brings us closer to God’s beauty, peace and love.
“Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you” Gal. 5:1.
3. Act on what God places on your heart to experience, even if you don’t feel like it. Go as you are. Don’t wait until you’re better, more whole, more perfect. Go as the Beloved and discover the gifts God longs to refresh your soul with.
“for still there are so many things that i have never seen. in every wood in every spring, there is a different green.” J.R.R. Tolkien
“Wood Line” by Andy Goldsworthy, sf presidio
That Saturday morning I woke up, I decided to do something in the now. I wanted to enjoy some spiritual whitespace.
The moment before we decided to go to the woods, I didn’t want to. It was cold and gray.
But the minute we stepped out onto the path and the wind whipped around us, rustling through the eucalyptus trees, God’s creative beauty refreshed us and I was so thankful we came.
What I’m learning is this: Sometimes soul refreshment comes after we go.
I brought my er-hu chinese violin but it was too windy to play.
But I learned that even though we cannot predict what will happen on our journey, I can choose to head in the direction of what inspires me for this journey.
I can follow God “now”, even though I may discover the journey may turn and change.
It didn’t turn out the way I expected. I saw beauty and felt the bite of San Francisco fog on my cheek. And I knew my Father God was happy we were together — now.
Just as He is longingly wrapping you in His arms this very moment — now.
Beloved.
~~~~~~
How is God calling you to live an inspired now?
Pull up a chair. Share a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
For more encouragement, refresh your soul with rest. Read Finding Spiritual Whitespace.
A Spiritual Whitespace Love Note For You
FREE PRINTABLE
Click here to download Spiritual Whitespace – Come to Me Printable.
May this hand-lettered Love Note inspire you to hear God’s whispers of love.
Special thanks goes to artist Kelly Ishmael for beautifully hand-lettering and photographing it for our community!
Beloved Brews Spotlights
Every week, I’ll spotlight a tagged #SpiritualWhitespace image from Instagram or blogger in our Beloved Brews Community. To be considered as a spotlight blogger, please kindly be sure to use the Beloved Brew badge or link back to Faith Barista in your post. Kindreds, can’t wait to see your photos & read the stories you live. Thank you for sharing your voice.
Krista at Forever 31 Mama shared in her Beloved Brew post:
“The words lately seem to ebb and flow. More ebb and less flow however. My stretches without blogging unfortunately weren’t planned. I just feel a bit stuck lately. If you’ve never experienced grief before, you may wonder, “what on earth is taking her SO long?!”…
The conversations I had with my pastor right after [my friend’s suicide], he told me not to feel guilty for the good days…Someone once said, “when you lose someone you love, life is never truly the same without them, you just eventually learn to cope and face each day a little stronger.”
Beloved Brews Link Up
Whole-hearted Writing. You & Jesus.
Welcome to our Beloved Brews weekly link-up! Pour out a little love with your words every Thursday {publish any day. link-up on Thursdays}. Simply write a blog post about what God’s sharing with your heart this week and then share it here. Don’t have a blog? Just share a comment. Visit thebonniegray.com to read the comments & share your voice too.
Today’s writing prompt: (what is God sharing with your heart) or (what inspires you?)
Next week’s 6/4 writing prompt: (what is God sharing with your heart) or (3 things you’ve learned)
Please use the Beloved Brews button in your blog post so we’ll know you’re in our community & others can join (use this html code here). When you link up your post, read & leave an encouraging comment on the post linked up just before yours. Thanks, kindreds!
Share photos that touch your heart with God’s beauty and rest using #spiritualwhitespace on Instagram. It’ll be fun to see your pics!
May the writing prompt bring you to a quiet place in your soul as you share your voice. Click here for details.
19 Comments
Powerful words, full of truth Bonnie. May we learn to live fully in the moment, realizing that now is a gift. May we release the regrets of the past and the worries of the future into his hands and enjoy the now!
Blessings sweet friend,
Kamea
Bonnie, I want to deeply thank you, for sharing your writing gift God has given you. You have taught me, so much! This post is so powerful, and truth pours out of each word. Currently God is nuturing me to rediscover who He is, through relationship, not religon. Thank you sooo much for your book and all you share.
You have blessed my life. Gloria Craig
yes.. yes.. through relationship, not religion. that is beautiful, gloria.
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Oh, my. This post is meant for me. 🙂 My OneWord2015 is “now” so I look and listen for how God is speaking to me through it. I hear him loud and clear today, right here, in this right now. Thanks, Bonnie!
i am so glad you hear Him here, Lisa! “now” is a beautiful word for the year.
Thanks for sharing those words of truth. It is so important, as believers, to encourage and inform when God reveals His truth. Some believers need to know it has been tried and tested. Sometimes it is a long journey before we see the light and trust and sometimes it is short. The time is not so important as the sharing. Our beloved Savior was with us only a short time, but look at what He left for us. But more exciting is what He is preparing. It is my prayer that I will wait patiently, work at His command and share eagerly what He tells me through His word and our walking. Blessings
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This is so timely , I am definately in that space. I had surgery on my knee and know such a ” bad thing” is really a good thing.. to spend time with the Lord..and I have embraced the opportunity to just rest. I hear Him saying rest in me .. and when I try to accomplish something all I can do is “rest” for something seems to detain me from it. So, yes, not knowing the outcome , the finale outcome I have learnt to rest in the moment and be gracious and see what He has for me or what I can hear better. I will miss my recovery time after I return to work.
This question grabbed my attention: “What if our next step could only be discovered by experiencing what Jesus has for us today?” Of course! Getting from Point A to Point B is a process, often made up of multiple steps. Each step serves a purpose. There is great relief and consolation in that knowledge! God knows what he is doing, even if the process seems slow to us. Thank you, Bonnie.
yep, exactly! each step serves a purpose. learning together with you, Nancy.
These words are resonating with me. I love how you say you have great ideas but when the time comes to go or do them, you don’t actually enjoy the things that inspire you. To me, the idea of a trip or activity sounds a lot better than it does actually doing it and I can’t wait until it’s over and then I think more fondly of it! But I realize I need to just meet Jesus in those places and see where he leads me. So much good truth to ponder in this post!
What a timely message! I try so hard to envision the future to have some sense of control. I feel aimless like a child lost in a big mall not knowing where to go or what the next days or weeks or months will be. I am having a chronic health crisis but trusting Jesus to carry me through. Oh it is agony to ponder the unknown and I need to learn to live in the now. Thanks Bonnie!
lifting you up this afternoon, Evaughn.
Thank you for these words, Bonnie, and for the beautiful free printable! I am coming off a really busy season, and am finding myself in extra need of rest. I love these words from Matthew 11 – some of my favorite! And I appreciated your three steps that you shared – so good!
Every day is a gift! May we experience Him in the eternal now. Thank you for the beautiful post and for hosting and God bless!
[…] am so honored to continue my collaboration with bonnie gray at thebonniegray.com. this week she is sharing a hand-lettered printable that i created for her and her #spiritualwhitespace community. if you need a little shot of faith […]
So much wisdom in this.
[…] trials and triumphs have the potential to draw our eyes to beauty. Take athletes as an example. When handled gracefully, we look at a fallen runner with the same […]