We spend so much time dwelling on the past, thinking about the future or working 80+ hours a week…and for what?

In the 24th chapter of Exodus, God speaks to Moses and says, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here…” Camping out on this for a bit, I realized that God understands human nature. God knew that Moses would spend lots of energy making the climb to the top of the mountain. And, like all of us, when we get to the top of the mountain we’re already thinking about and planning our descent.

What most of us miss is that we won’t pause and be present on the “mountain top”…and we miss out on what’s right there in front of us. Because we can’t unplug or pause, we miss those awesome life moments of being in the moment with God, with our families, fill in the blank _______________.

The issue is — are our eyes are open to see what any given moment is revealing to us. Here is a snippet of my adventures where I started to understand the importance of living in the moment.

It was cold enough on the mountain top that my breath hung in the air around me. With each step I took, the cold air tightened its grip, slowly eroding what faith I had left. I began wrestling with my thoughts: “Did God really talk to me, or did I somehow convince myself that He did? Seriously, go to the top of the mountain and pick up four stones? There are millions of stones up here…what am I doing? What four stones? What if I don’t find them?” As the battle continued in my mind, with a pure act of the will I put aside theology, religion, and what I knew to be real and true. Arriving at the edge of despair, the wonderful and warm thought that God may have really spoken to me began to consume my thoughts. I had to know, I had to take a chance. I had to see if these four stones were real, so with pure faith I continued my hunt for the last and final stone in this surreal game of hide and seek. As if something was guiding me, I stopped, looked down, and picked up a stone, and I somehow knew that this was the final stone. I couldn’t explain it, but I knew. The final, fourth stone had taken some time to find because I had to break through the barrier of my own mind, but I had found it!

…a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones. —Ecclesiastes 3:5a (MSG)

Well, with my four stones, I headed back over to the foundation ruins to meet back up with my friend. The first thing he asked me was if I had found the stones, and as I opened my hand to reveal the four fractured pieces of stone on the backdrop of my black glove, to our amazement, they somehow fit together. I’m not kidding. These four stones fit together, forming almost a cross like shape when they were joined. I would find it hard to share this story if I did not have my friend as a witness to back it up.

I would later understand that these stones were significant. They would become the process of God that He would use for meaning along my journey.

Here is a life truth that I learned on my hearthstone journey. Living life is not about being focused in the past or even on a future. It’s about being in every moment with God and to be ready for whatever God has prescribed for that moment to be.

May you slow down so you don’t miss anything. May you be fully present, right here and right now. May you see that the reality of God is right here among you and near you.