Our Present

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Regardless if it’s the bright sunshine or the pale moonlight hanging over the sky, the feeling of that intense heat always keeps lingering in the air. Whenever you go online on any social media platform, you are most likely to see vacation posts and photos of friends, family and even complete strangers as you scroll down. If you happen to pass by a school or university you may chance upon hearing sounds of cheerful delight under that familiar graduation March tune. All these; everything you see, hear and feel all point to one general direction: we have yet again entered what most people would consider as the most exciting part of the year- Summer.

It is that time of the year where folks go places to escape the summer heat. A time of year where the youth can take a sigh of relief from the hustle and bustle of school. And a time where a big part of the working folk attempt to find an escape from the daily demands of their jobs to either find time to share with their friends and family or just to have those moments for themselves.

It is in summer, the season where the sun shines at its brightest and most magnificent is where you can see the highlights of the Lord’s work. For those who take time to travel, the majestic mountains, the beautiful oceans and the lush forests that the Lord has shaped and combed are in full view, free from those pesky rain clouds that could sometimes obstruct our view.

Although inaudible to the ears of men, the Lord hears prayers of thanksgiving and of joy amidst all the cheers and the blaring celebratory music in graduation rites. And even the prayers of students yet to graduate praying as they walk, praising the Lord for guiding them through another year which takes them much closer to their goal does not go unheard by the ears of our Heavenly Father.

Another sight to behold during this season is seeing the hearts of individuals who would dedicate and take time out of their summer break or daily tasks to volunteer for the expansion of God’s kingdom. This burning desire to serve is something that the Lord is always delighted to see.

Looking at it in a different perspective, we can see that the dawn of summer ushers in the end of the 1st quarter of the year. And as summer ends it takes with it the most of the year’s 2nd quarter. With the passing of the first quarter, one will notice that we have arrived at the halfway point of the present year. This emphasizes how fleeting a resource time is. It is there one moment, then gone the next. The present is what it is, a gift. It is a gift from the Lord. And we as Christians are to make use and be good stewards of the gifts God has given us. What have you been doing with your present? If the Almighty where to ask this to us, what would we say? How would we answer?

Time is the only unrecyclable resource and summer may serve as an excellent reminder in knowing what we have been doing with our time since the year started and what we CAN still do with our present to shine for the Lord.