Time Scarcity and Focus

"Go on, lean in. Listen. You hear it? Carpe...you hear it? Carpe...carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary!"
--John Keating (Dead Poets Society)

One of our most difficult challenges is to live in the present. The past and future distract us and sap attentive capacity from the here and now.

What causes this lack of focus? Perhaps it is an assumption that time is abundant. We think that there will be opportunity in the future to more fully use each minute.

But time is deceptively scarce. We extrapolate life today into a long projected future. But tomorrow, as the saying goes, is promised to no one.

Perhaps a daily self reminder--that God's ultimate gift is more scarce than we think--would improve focus on the present.