This year, I'm trying a weight management system called Noom. It's psychology based and focuses on helping you build a better mindset and habits around: grocery shopping, the kinds of food you purchase, exercise, how you handle stress, and how you think about and approach eating. Each day you weigh yourself, catalog your meals, and read new information to help you carry out your personal goals. The other day, Noom asked this multiple choice question:
What percentage of time do people spend thinking about the past or the future? 5%, 10%, 20%, or 32%?... You guessed it, the answer was a whopping 32% —over one third of our lives is spent thinking about the past or the future! Noom, was letting us in on that information because eating is an "automatic behavior" like driving, showering, or brushing your teeth. We do it without attention or intention, while we're thinking about...our past and future.
Noom teaches us how to eat 'mindfully' and focus on the PRESENT - the period of time now occurring. This is so we can make deliberate and purposeful choices and develop habits that will benefit us long term. People think 'mindfulness' is a new, modern idea. They call it "Being present" which means being fully focused on or involved in what one is doing or experiencing."
Jesus taught His disciples long ago to LIVE in the present in Matthew 6— and to enjoy God's faithful provision. We petition in the LORD's prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," (vs. 11) Jesus meditated and went to solitary places to pray to His Father. He encouraged the disciples to pray, be grateful, take pleasure in their God, in their pursuits, and in the people they loved. He said, don't be anxious about the future, or nurse regrets about the past.
25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Jesus asked them, "27Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"
Worrying about time—a past we cannot change, or a future we cannot control...is pointless. Jesus goes deeper into the futility of holding anxiety over the necessities of life.
31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Finally, Jesus challenged His disciples to live in the present. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. American Author, Taylor Caldwell said, "Don't let the past steal your present." I say, "Don't let the future steal it either!" Stay in the moment. |
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