This is the day the LORD has made; let us
rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24
It’s funny how things
stick in your mind… I have a very vivid memory of being on a school bus in
Sundown, Texas. The year would have been
1971 or ’72, which would have put me in the first or second grade. My class has
just finished a party of some kind, and we are about to go on a field trip;
hence the bus. In my hands, I am holding
a package of “Now and Later” taffy. I
remember looking at the candy and thinking what an odd name it was. “Now and Later.” Why not just call it “Yummy Stuff”? That would have seemed more accurate. But “Now and Later”? It didn’t fit.
In 1962, Harry and Joseph Klein, owners of the Ferrara Candy Company,
began to manufacture packages of candy containing nine little squares of taffy
and named them “Now and Later” with the idea being since the squares of taffy
were individually wrapped, you could eat some Now, and save some for Later.
Herein is where that name becomes a mystery to a kid: You see, with a child, there is no Later when it comes to candy. There is only Now. I have this candy in my
hands now. It tastes great now. Why would I wait to eat it until later? There is only Now. “I have candy. When am I going to eat it? Oh, that’s easy. I’m going to eat it right now.”
When Is Now?
Now is a strange time. When you think about it, Now doesn’t really exist for us.
Well, it exists, but when we try to point at it, or look at it for a
moment, that Now has moved on into
the past and it becomes Then, an
event in the past. Bob asks: “What time is it?” Sam answers: “Now?” Bob
replies: “Yes.” And Sam reports: “It’s now 11:27.” But it isn’t, is it…or rather it wasn’t. You see, time has passed since Bob
asked. It is a now different Now than when Sam replies. Perhaps ten
seconds have passed since Bob asked what time it is…now. So now
is then. That now is later. It is a Then
now. We really can’t say what time it
is…we can only say what time it…well, was…then.
Crazy huh?
We have another Then as well,
don’t we? …The future Then.
“In two weeks, it’ll be the Anniversary of your wedding, and all of the
kids are coming home to visit. Won’t it
be wonderful…then?” That’s a future Then. The excitement and enjoyment of
future Then is only fully understood
when we wait long enough for Then to
become Now, and…then it’s gone. It’s Then
again…only it’s past. It isn’t Now anymore.
In order to fully experience and examine Now, we have to stretch it out a bit. We widen Now
so that really, it includes a bit of the future Then and a bit of the past Then. And then we have to sort of move Now forward as we walk forward in
time. We carry a bit of the past, and
reach forward toward the future. We call
this motion…Now. This is the only Now we have. To keep Now fresh, you have to move it. Otherwise, it never really is Now.
It’s just this constant trading the future Then, and moving it back so that it becomes the past Then.
This is the reality of Now. We
live in the Now…that
ever-moving-forward existence where we live and move and breathe. Now
cannot stand still. It must move
forward.
God has an interesting perspective on the concept of Now. He doesn’t want us
living in either of the Thens. We can’t relive the past, so aside from
improving on our past mistakes, we can’t live back Then. And we can’t see the
future, so we can’t live in the Then
that hasn’t happened yet either. We can
only aspire to do our best to find joy and health, love, friendship and
success, and live faithfully for the Lord God…whenever that Then becomes a part of our Now.
Joshua 24:14-15 speaks a few
words about living in the Now. It seems
that we are to make a decision about who we are going to serve:
“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all
faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates
River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems
undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the
Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will
serve the LORD.”
This examination of Now and the
two Thens may seem a little silly to
you as you are reading. But believe it
or not, what is really silly is not understanding the reality and the
importance of what we are doing…moving through time. The purpose of our existence is to serve the
purposes of the living God, to worship him, and live for him through our
lives. This is why we were created. Taking Now
with us and inching toward eternity. The
Lord God has given us Now. He has not given us Then…or Then.
Live in the Now. It is the only
thing we have. We can’t hold onto it,
but we can carry it forward.
“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
“Choose this day whom you will serve…as for
me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Almighty God, Help me to live today…and
every moment in this day, for you. Help
me make my living relevant to your purposes and your will for my living. Release me from the past, protect me from
getting lost in the future. Help me to
live in the now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Submitted By Kerry Patton
