Is it good to “live in the moment”?  This phrase has been used in at least two different ways, and my response is determined by the meaning intended by the phrase “live in the moment.”

Sometimes what is meant by the exhortation to “live in the moment” is the synonymic exhortation: wherever you are, be all there (Jim Elliot).  Or more simply, be present.  When you are taking a walk in the city, notice the grains in the cement beneath the rubber of your shoes.  Enjoy the diverse smells. Take interest in the contours of every face.  Be aware of the moves of your heart and mind.  Look at the dead, barely existent flower, piled beneath the October snow, and be the first to notice its bloom in late April.  Feel the cold winter air turn to heat as it moves from your teeth, over the top of your tongue, down the back of your throat, and into your lungs on every inhale.  See the shape of the steam dissipate after it touches your lips with every exhale, and follow the invisible trail of your breath up into the sky until it is indistinguishable from the clouds.  Be amused by the way people shape their words, and look at the eyes behind those words.  Yearn to get inside a heart through grasping to understand the propositions, the feelings, the joys, the pains, concealed or equivocated in every syllable formed through the thoughtless synchronization of lips, tongue and larynx.  Yes.  In this case, if you are not living in the moment, you are not living at all.

God governs every square inch of the universe, every thought and every feeling.  His glory is on display.  You may be the only sentient being, apart from God himself, to ever to see the ant that just crossed the sidewalk in front of you with a whole kernel of corn on its back.  Did you thank God for that moment when his glory was on display for an audience of two?  Or were you too busy speculating about the stock market to notice that little six-legged creation lifting 20 times its body weight.  Oh how much more there is to feel and see in this world than ants, as a revelation of the majesty of God!

However, sometimes what is meant by the exhortation “live in the moment” is to ride every wave of impulse to see where it leads.  Discover the destination of your desires.  Lend the current love of your heart every devotion without any thought for tomorrow.  What you feel now is the most real thing in existence, for tomorrow may never be.  Every move should be an ultimate end in itself, leading you through the most direct route to gratify every “appetite or inclination of nature that is agreeable in itself, and not merely for the sake of something else” (Jonathan Edwards words concerning a different subject).  Let the world move you, not only in the sense of ‘inspire awe’, but also in the sense of ‘dictate your every move’.  No.  In this case, if you are living in the moment, you are not living at all.

There are chief ends that are of a much higher satisfaction and splendor than what can be achieved in the moment. In this case, lesser inferior joys are the enemy of greater superior joys.  A man who has been married for 50 years will tell you that marriage has been for his joy, though a man who has been married for 5 years might say that it is mostly about commitment and sacrifice.  Yet, the man will not taste the joy of knowing the mysterious (and today, mostly elusive) 50 year marriage if he has not been committed through the 5.  Even more than this shadow of marriage is the reality of living in light of the kingdom of God.  We dance to the beat of a drummer largely unheard.  We endure momentary affliction for the prize of God.  We recognize that our feelings and inclinations are often poor indicators of reality in light of the unchanging word of God, which promises pleasures forevermore.

The ultimate and most satisfying reality, the reality of the Kingdom of God, includes this moment, but also transcends this moment.  If you live with only the moment in mind, you will miss it.  If you live, not recognizing the beauty of God displayed in the moment, you will miss it.