When I work out it seems I always find an inspiration to write about and share with you. Today while on my second set leg pressing 110 lbs I thought about my cat. Cali has a fairly common gift in the animal world but a very unique one in our world. Her gift is the ability to live in the moment

Animals realize that life is way too brief. They do not hold grudges, let their past hold back and affect their future, or sabotage their own happiness. They have the capacity to love unconditionally. They love not out of pretense, greed, or need; they love because that is what is in their heart. It is had wired into their being.

Why can’t we be like that? God in his wisdom gave us the gift of free will. When we are manipulative, vengeful, spiteful, discourteous, pretentious, and unappreciative we have made the decision God allows us to make. It is our decision alone. We base that decision intentionally or unintentionally on our experiences of the past.

We don’t do X because Y happened in the past. We don’t trust Z because A hurt me in the past. We don’t go to B because C took me there and D happened to me in the past. I can’t see E because he reminds me of A and A hurt me in the past. The common theme of this is the past. The past. The PAST. I hear this all the time. Why do we conspire against our future by employing our past? I admit I have fallen victim to the conspiracy myself.

When Cali does something she isn’t supposed to I scream and punish her. Three minutes later she’s forgotten what she had done and is back at my feet wanting her belly rubbed.  My cat, like any animal lives in the moment. When we live in the moment we have packed the past in a box and put that box in the closet of our lives.

Life is too short to be letting the past impede our progress of growth in the future. Life is meant to be savored and lived to the fullest each day. To dwell on the infractions of the past mean that instead of walking across the threshold of the future we are indecisive. We have one foot in the future and one in the past by doing that we block our own blessings God intends for us. We sabotage ourselves! We destroy our dreams before we have them!

God doesn’t intend for us to be that way. Yet he bestowed upon us the ability to make decisions for ourselves. Make a decision today to make the choice to live for today. To live for this moment. To live for the now, not the yesterday. Unblock the traffic jam of the blessings God intends for you today.