Those who practice the present must be intentional about living life in the present tense. We might wonder whether we have the option to do otherwise. We are not time travelers. We cannot visit the past or project ourselves into the future. But while we live in the present, we do not always attend to the present. Our minds are occupied elsewhere. We spend our days living in the present but ranging in our thinking from the past to the future. Meanwhile, the swiftly passing present is squandered. How, then, do we live in the present tense? One of the most important ways we do this is by focusing on the task at hand. We attend to what has been set before us. The task at hand is not glorious. For pastors and leaders, it is the basic work of shepherding. Shepherding involves keeping watch over yourself and the flock God has called you to serve (Acts 20:28).
Jesus characterizes the present as a realm where we must exercise faith when He says that each day has enough trouble of its own (Matt. 6:34). This is both a forceful reminder of our powerlessness and a call to attend to our duty. “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Jesus asks in Matthew 6:27. Has worry ever protected us from such things in the past? Most of our worries are about things over which we have no control. Many of them will never even come to pass. Yet knowing this does not rescue us from anxiety. The power of worry is its ability to play upon our uncertainty.
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