I watched Kung Fu Panda with my kids last weekend. I love the movie─OK, I’ll admit that I'm a huge Jack Black fan. This line from Oogway (cheesy but true) really grabbed me:

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift; that's why it's called the present."

How many of us truly live the gift of the moment that God has given to us? Are you stuck in the "if only’s" and "should have’s" of past pain and regret? Are you salivating over the greener grass of a future mirage?

Richard Foster writes that, "Today the heart of God is an open wound of love. He aches over our distance and preoccupation... He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness. He longs for our presence."

We can become so preoccupied with regrets of the past and fears of the future that our relationship with God in the present takes a back seat. Who of us haven't wondered at times where God is? But, as Foster reminds us, God is more present than we are. He longs for our presence with him!

Relationship happens in the present moment; it's all we have. If we don't seize the present moment, relationships suffer and God will seem distant and unapproachable. The fire of romance fades because we obsess over other things─our minds and ourselves are elsewhere. Our children grow up in a blink while our focus is stolen away by the less important issues.

Let's not fool ourselves into thinking that it goes unnoticed. God knows. Those around us and close to us notice. And yes, our kids are aware as well.

We must learn to live in the present moment─it truly is all we have! Here is a creed I’ve found helpful in my life.

The Lifebuilder's Creed
by Dale Witherington

Today is the most important day of my life.
Yesterday with its successes and victories, struggles and failures
is gone forever.
The past is past.
Done.
Finished.
I cannot relive it. I cannot go back and change it.
but I will learn from it and improve my Today.
Today. This moment. NOW.
It is God's gift to me and it is all that I have.
Tomorrow with all its joys and sorrows, triumphs and
troubles isn't here yet.
Indeed, tomorrow may never come.
Therefore, I will not worry about tomorrow.
Today is what God has entrusted to me.
It is all that I have. I will do my best in it.
I will demonstrate the best of me in it--
My character, giftedness, and abilities--
to my family and friends, clients and associates.
I will identify those things that are most important
to do Today,
and those things I will do until they are done.
And when this day is done
I will look back with satisfaction at that
which I have accomplished.
Then, and only then, will I plan my tomorrow,
Looking to improve upon Today, with God's help.
Then I shall go to sleep in peace ... content. 

Captain Stephen Wiseman and his wife, Leslie, have spent 12 years in full-time ministry with The Salvation Army. Stephen serves as Chaplain at East Village Mission in Calgary, and is planting a House Church network in his neighbourhood. He has three children.