Instead, desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, stop worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. -Matthew 6:33-34, CEB
We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness. Little do we realize that God’s love is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. As we take another, it means that God is choosing us now and now and now and now. -Richard Rohr
Life in quarantine seemed like the perfect time to slow down and practice being fully present to the moment. Instead, the world is given a taste of what us with depression and anxiety feel all the time. We have more time to worry about things beyond our control. Isolated, we have little to do besides check the headlines for the twelfth time today, heaping heightened heart rates and thickening our sadness at the state of things.
Counting Backwards to Move Forward
Settling your mind into the presence of God can feel like a real fight. If you’re not much of a religious person, think of it as settling your mind into the presence of this moment. The moment is here already. Give yourself space for the senses to perceive what is already here. Once, at the height of my anxiety, I became so lost in worry that I essentially stopped functioning. My therapist did an exercise with me called the 54321 Technique. It is a mindfulness tool for grounding you in the present moment.
Name five things you can see. Name four things you can hear. Three things you can feel. Two things you can smell. One thing you can taste in this present moment. Psychologist Ellen Hendrickson says of this technique: “Bringing our attention to our senses grounds us in the present and counting the items interrupts the spinning of our thoughts.”
If God is already present to you, then a technique like this is a form of prayer. Noticing your senses offers the possibility of noticing and naming small tastes of joy, small pockets of grace. It is a practice that can be built to slow down the whirlwind mind from the worries of the world. Grounding your soul and body in the present moment, tuning in to the presence of God’s love, you begin to discern what you are capable of doing next.
Accepting What You Can and Can’t Do
The truth is, you can’t know what coronavirus will do to our future. But you can wear a mask, feel it against your face as a reminder that God calls us to love others as we love ourselves. You can reach out to family and friends and remind them that they matter to you and you’re praying for them today.
You can’t bring peace to the present turmoil over race relations in our country. But you can pray for peace, donate to causes that are working to bring peace about, build friendships with people directly affected by present policies. You can protest, you can read, you can write to your congressman, you can teach your children your values.
My prayer for you is that the God whose breath gave you life would renew and refresh your whole being today. Breathe in God’s love for you. Breathe out God’s love for the world. Acts 17:26 says “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” It’s not an accident that you are exactly who you are at this time and place in history. God is already present to you, waiting for you to notice and enjoy the gift of boundless love that gently reminds you, “You are worthy.” So give yourself a break. Take a breather. Imagine that you are exactly where you’re meant to be right now, and remind yourself that your story isn’t over.