Living In and Beyond the Moment // Thoughts

07 June 2017

People have a tendency to get stuck in a rut.  I started noticing this so, SO much over the last school year.  Life has this way of doing that.  What do I mean? We get so accustomed to our everyday life.  If you're a student, it probably involves school.  If you work, your routine revolves around your job.  Every single person has this...thing they do.  Something.  Every day.  It's why you get up.  It's what you do.

But that routine can put us to sleep.
We go through the same motions, day in and day out.  Every day can be the exact same routine as the day before, and the day after.

Sure, sometimes we get all fired up about something.   We hear a great sermon or speech, we read an amazing article, we hear a great song, or we come across the most profound quote we ever laid eyes on, and we get excited. Little, happy thoughts of motivation tantalize us, and we feel...good. But, hey, is that really enough?

Are those thoughts—however motivational and cute they may be—going to effect a change in our life? Well, sometimes they do.  But, sometimes they don’t.  And, to be fair, in my life, I’ve found out that a lot of times—they don’t. It takes more than just a cute quote to change a life.  It takes resolve. 

Life is more than just living a routine.  We all do live a routine, I’m not disputing that.  But there can be so much more to life than just living that routine out.  HOW do you live that routine out?

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. –Maya Angelou

Okay, so YES.  You go to work every morning.  Question—are you going to work or are you going to work? Okay, so you get up and go to school every day to get that education.  Fine.  What fuels you every morning? What is your goal?  You can’t just be living the daily drudgeries of life because YOU FREAKING HAVE TO. I mean, technically, you can.  BUT THAT'S NO FUN.  That's boring and pathetic, honestly! Put joy in life. Find the things that impact your life and make a change.  Ask God for help.  L I V E.
Green Leaf Trees and Gray Asphalt Road
Celebrate life.  Thank Jesus.  I once heard an illustration about the shortness of our lives that inspired me.  Imagine a long, long rope.  That rope resembles eternity.  It goes on and on forever, and never ends.  And at the beginning of the rope, think of a little red piece of tape that spans—I don’t know—maybe an inch and a half? And that piece of tape is our life.  WOW.  That’s it.  That little piece.  And then what? Eternity.  (Honestly, I don’t think we talk about it enough.  But that's a topic for another time...kind of)
           
And I think that there are two ways to take that illustration's idea.  1) We get caught up in the here and now, and we don’t focus on the big picture.  Granted, we don’t know and we can’t see the full picture, but I thank God that He does.  But 2) we can't forget that God has put us here for a reason.  There is a purpose for every single person on the planet, and we have to rise up and live out God’s plan for us.  That’s why I call it “living in the moment and beyond the moment.”  Because that’s what you have to do, isn’t it?

Thinking long- term about the decisions that we make today and how they will affect us is something I think a lot of people tend to forget, but is so vitally important to LIFE.  Getting caught up in the moment and forgetting everything else? NAY MY FRIEND.  Look beyond that moment.  Life can be complete only in Christ, and living every single second out for Him is what makes it all truly worth it.  The choices we make today, tomorrow, next week—they all affect us.  The life we live today is fleeting, but eternity? Man, that's forever.

Yet at the same time, live in every moment.  Don’t let life slip through your fingers. Don't live in yesterday or tomorrow, LIVE NOW. Embrace that calling God has on your life and DON’T LET IT GO.  Fight for it.  Live in the moment for beyond the moment.  (I MAKE SO MUCH SENSE right lol) Don’t live in each day for itself, but remember the big picture.  Having regrets for the rest of that rope by one moment of “living in the moment” is so not worth it.  Don't forget that God placed you on His green earth for a very, very special purpose.  Don't forget to treasure every second of this precious gift of life.  It's not here forever. But use every second to build up for what will last forever. 
                           
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Well, THERE'S THAT.  To be honest, I have no idea what this post was :P It's just something that I've been wanting to write for a very long time so I decided to finally just write down I'm thinking.  Thoughts? What's your take on this? (Also if you could ignore the messed-up spacing in this post that'd be great thanks xD )

-autumn 

26 comments:

  1. It's hard to get out of a slump of getting into routine-- but we do have to focus on the big photo. Thanks for this, Autumn.

    xoxo Abigail Lennah | ups & downs

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    1. yesss so true <33 thanks for reading, abby!

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  2. Anonymous6/07/2017

    I needed this today <3

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    1. *crying* i feel so honored <33

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  3. This is such a great and needed post! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thank YOU for reading, Jolly :))

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  4. WELL HELLO THERE This post is so good. A wonderful reminder to live fuller

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  5. i can't even tell you how much i love this post! thank you for the inspiration to make the most of life!

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    1. EEEEP your comment made me smile :)) thanks for reading, audrey!

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  6. I READ THIS YESTERDAY BUT I AM A SLOTH APPARENTLY SO I'M ONLY GETTING AROUND TO COMMENTING NOW. *plants feet into ground*
    eheheh i actually totally saw the video of the illustration you mentioned in here. but this is so good w o w. Because I think that our generation has started to throw living in the moment out of any equation. Like I know that a lot of memees are jokes, but there's a growing number of kids who actually just...don't care about things??? like, "If this isn't important to ME, then I'm not going to care a bit about it or do my best." (depends on what it is) Which is totally selfish? SORT OF A RABBIT TRAIL LOLZ but oh man it just makes me ANGRY when people (not just kids, I suppose) don't care about other people as long as it doesn't effect themselves. ugh.
    BUT ANYWAY. I also really liked this post because it just delves right into it - we shouldn't just drudge on in life. But rather, live life with eternity glasses on, yo. (oh I might actually have something that Hannah Joy (milesintherain.blogspot.com) wrote about something similar to this so I might email you if it actually pertains to this topic XD).
    lolz whoops. hopefully this made sense. all in all, i agree with you and i have a lot of opinions apparently? ha.
    x

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    1. very very unhappy bc i had a comment all typed out for you and then i lost it WHY OH WHYYYYYYYYYYY

      so um the very shortened condensed version of that is:

      - u r not a sloth bc look how late i'm replying
      - francis chan yes xD
      - YOU ARE SO RIGHT WOW sometimes i get so annoyed with this generation but yeah i'm not perfect either lol THERE'S SO MUCH MORE TO LIFE THO
      - eternity glasses is the best term & YES i'd love to read that

      and hey opinions are the best :))

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    2. i really like how that comment turned out XD

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  7. Really inspirational! Like that example of the rope, it puts things into perspective. It's incredible to think about how short our lives actually are.

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  8. I've always wondered about the thin line between those two things. I've always found it difficult to balance. Love this post though.

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    1. you are so right :)) that line is so thin between them and it's hard to decipher, but it's there.

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  9. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I think this is a really important topic. And yes, somehow we seem to forget eternity? I don't know how, but I know I do. It seems to be a balance between enjoying each day and not getting caught up in the past or future, but at the same time learning from the past, and living in light of the future. But anyway, you said it much better that I can. Thanks again for this. It's something I need to learn.

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    1. yeah, i feel like it's not talked about enough honestly. like yesterday i was on the road and i passed this funeral place or whatever and i was just like...wow how many people are thinking about how short this life is right now? All of life is all for Jesus and that's what makes it worth it honestly (sorry that was a rabbit trail :))

      thanks for your comment, jessica <3 it brightens my day.

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  10. Thank you, Autumn. I need constant reminders to LIVE - not just exist - and this post helped inspire me again.

    Jem Jones

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  11. Whoa this is so inspiring!! Living in the moment was my big goal at the beginning of the year, and I'm trying every day to succeed

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    1. THAT IS SUCH A GOOD GOAL

      but it's hard :)) BUT IT'S WORTH IT SO

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  12. GOSH I LOVE YOU AUTUMN <3

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  13. You, honestly, made me reflect on what I'm doing with my life. Thank you!!

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