As I Am Present in the Now with Josh Reeves

[00:00:01] This is Josh Reeves and you're listening to the Mile Hi Church Podcast. Thanks for listening.

[00:00:06] Hey, December 23rd and 24th are our candlelight services. They are inspiring, revelatory,

[00:00:12] and give you a sense of hope for yourself and humanity. And I don't know about you,

[00:00:16] but I sure do need it. The 23rd and 24th, 1, 4, and 7, and the 7 p.m.s are streaming online.

[00:00:22] Hope you can join us.

[00:00:24] But before I get into my message today, I do want to speak a little bit about this election that we all

[00:00:32] participated in this past week. Mile Hi Church, it's not that we don't speak about politics. It's

[00:00:39] important to speak about politics sometime to be relevant. What we try to never do is to never speak

[00:00:45] from partisanship. There's a big difference. And we're not an apolitical church. What we

[00:00:53] are is a church full of good liberals and good conservatives and good everything in between.

[00:01:02] And I don't know about you, but I like being a purple church. I like that we like to hang out

[00:01:09] with each other and that there's somewhere in our country that we can still do that here at Mile High.

[00:01:15] That being said, for those who are pleased with the outcome of the election, congratulations.

[00:01:23] For those who are not pleased, who have fear about the future of their country or concern for

[00:01:30] themselves or loved ones, I'm very sorry for how you might be feeling right now.

[00:01:35] And I invite us all to remember a few things. The first is that in our teaching, democracy is sacred.

[00:01:45] And America is a divine idea. And yet part of being a part of a democracy is you don't always get your

[00:01:57] way. And so it's very hard when you don't get your way to pause and ask yourself if it is possible

[00:02:06] that the collective wisdom of the people might be more intelligent than where you are in a particular

[00:02:13] moment. I'm not asking you to accept that. It's very, very difficult to accept the outcome of democracy.

[00:02:20] And yet part of sacred participation is doing just that. Following up with concern and all of that,

[00:02:27] but that's part of what it is. Secondly, no one is more of an American than you are.

[00:02:35] There is no such thing as one American that's better than another American. So wherever you are,

[00:02:43] hold on to your virtue. Hold on to your patriotism and vision of a nation that can achieve freedom and

[00:02:51] justice and the pursuit of happiness for all people. Continue to be that. You may choose to

[00:02:57] consume a little less news and watch a few more movies right now, but don't discount your value as a

[00:03:09] citizen. And third, you can grieve without grievance. You can grieve the outcome of an election

[00:03:19] without participating in what we've been talking about a lot this year, this politics of other,

[00:03:25] this politics of other and grievance, which sometimes gives us candidates that maybe aren't

[00:03:30] the best or in alignment with what our virtues are. Grieve, take care of yourself, but try to do a

[00:03:39] little bit more of loving and understanding and practicing curiosity for people in your country

[00:03:46] to connect, to listen, and to find a shared intention in however we seek to achieve this prayer

[00:03:54] of liberty and justice and happiness for all. So that's my spiel. Take good care of yourselves and

[00:04:05] take good care of your country. So it's September, just a few months ago, and I realize I'm overwhelmed.

[00:04:15] You ever have that happen to you? I'm overwhelmed. As we begin the entrance into this holiday season,

[00:04:23] do you have that experience too of fear and panic versus joy and excitement? Ah! So I'm in a place of

[00:04:32] overwhelm. There's a lot going on here at Mile High Church. I'm starting three classes in September.

[00:04:36] We've got that Adventures in Faith we just completed. We're going to throw a pledge campaign in there.

[00:04:41] Christmas is around the corner, and so is 2025. I got to get to work. So there's a lot. I'm a little

[00:04:45] overwhelmed. And as many of you know me, I've been walking through a lot of grief right now,

[00:04:50] supporting my California family, my Colorado family, a little overwhelming. And I think

[00:04:57] it's not wise to ever ask the question, does God speak? But how does God speak to you in your life?

[00:05:07] And how is it that you best listen for the voice of God in your life?

[00:05:15] And it's so amazing in my own experience that there's these surface thoughts of worry,

[00:05:21] of control, of doubt, of arguing with myself and others. And if I can just get quiet,

[00:05:29] it's amazing how the voice of God is right there. And one of the ways it best speaks to me

[00:05:35] is through good ideas. I'm so blessed to be a minister because I have to sit down and write

[00:05:41] thoughts to share with you. And sometimes something really good shows up that I'm excited to share

[00:05:47] with you, but it's what I really need. It's how I hear the voice of God in my life. And so sometimes

[00:05:53] they'll come out as little quips, little sayings, little prayers. A couple that have been really

[00:06:00] important to me in the last 12 months or so, one is quality of life is quality of consciousness.

[00:06:09] Quality of life is quality of consciousness. Rilke put it well when he wrote a letter to a young poet

[00:06:17] saying, if your daily life seems poor, do not blame it. Blame yourself. Tell yourself that you are not

[00:06:25] poet enough to call forth its riches. For the creator, there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.

[00:06:33] It is powerful for me to know that the quality of my life is not based upon how good or not so good

[00:06:42] things are going, but the quality of my consciousness. And that no one gets to decide the quality of my

[00:06:49] consciousness, but me. It's my job to take care of my consciousness through spiritual practices,

[00:06:58] through co-creating and clarification, through release and letting go. The quality of my life,

[00:07:06] whether filled with problems or celebrations, is the result of the quality of my consciousness.

[00:07:14] Another one that came forward that was really important to me, when love is at the center,

[00:07:19] love centers everything. When love is at the center, love centers everything. Going to sit down and have

[00:07:29] a difficult conversation with my spouse or my child or my parent, someone at work, it's so easy for us to

[00:07:36] put the problem in the middle, to put the issue or the challenge at the center. And the problem with

[00:07:42] that is it only helps us see partly. We only see from the perspective of problem or issue and not from

[00:07:50] solution. So when love is at the center, I've learned in my life, not only am I a nicer guy,

[00:07:56] but I see from a more whole perspective. Doesn't take away the problem, the challenge, or the issue,

[00:08:02] but it makes it solvable because I'm focused on the whole and not on the challenge in the little

[00:08:08] peace. When we put love at the center, it can center everything.

[00:08:18] It's going to be groovy. It's funky.

[00:08:26] So it's September and I'm overwhelmed and this little saying comes out. I'm going to offer it to

[00:08:34] you as an early Christmas present, as a possibility for you. It sounds a little corny at first,

[00:08:40] but I want to explain it. It goes like this. As I am present in the now, God takes care of every

[00:08:47] how. As I am present in the now, God takes care of every how. Oh, thanks for catching on. You can do

[00:08:55] this with me. As I am present in the now, God takes care of every how. Now I came upon this quip,

[00:09:04] not out of inner brilliance, but of full-on desperation. You know, they say, and I like

[00:09:15] this philosophy, that you either live from fear or love. Do you accord with that? We're either living

[00:09:21] from fear or we're living from love. And one of the fruits of fear is control. Right? And so many of us,

[00:09:31] we try to run our lives from a place of control, thinking we're the only ones in charge. And so I

[00:09:37] was having the experience with having so much on my plate of realizing I am not in control. I can't

[00:09:43] do all this. That's the funny thing about control is you can actually live under the illusion that it's

[00:09:47] working and tell things to get, get to be so much that you can't help but break down or surrender

[00:09:55] into the other way of living, which is the fruit of love. And that is trust to live in trust. My life

[00:10:04] was forcing me to see that, yes, Josh, it's important to prepare for all these things that you have to do,

[00:10:11] but you do not have any time to over-prepare. You don't have any time to live under the illusion

[00:10:18] that you're in control because you're not in control. And so what can I do but to prepare the

[00:10:27] best I can and come present? And when you prepare and come present, the byproduct of that is presence.

[00:10:37] Presence. As I am present in the now, God takes care of every how. And if I can be prepared and I

[00:10:48] can come present from a place of trust, this higher power, this sacred presence, this divine

[00:10:57] intelligence reveals itself. It was there all along, but we finally let go of our egoic nature enough to

[00:11:05] let it in, to let it happen and come forth in a meaningful way. Ernest Holmes, our founder,

[00:11:17] he liked to refer to this presence as your silent partner, your silent partner. He shares,

[00:11:26] it is right that you live a more abundant life. The more largely you live, the more completely life

[00:11:31] itself will be expressed through you. It is right that we should all seek greater happiness for

[00:11:37] ourselves and others. You have a partnership with the invisible. Your silent partner, the law of mind,

[00:11:45] will always create the good you desire for yourself or others when you comply with its nature. When you

[00:11:52] comply with its nature. Now, is your silent partner going to cook dinner? No. Is it going to do the

[00:12:00] dishes when you're done? No. And yet this presence is what brings forth what is needed most. That

[00:12:11] thing of how God speaks to you that I was alluding to earlier. That sense of grace, that peace of mind,

[00:12:21] that exhilaration of enthusiasm for life and circumstances, that clarity, that synchronicity,

[00:12:30] that love. The thing about this presence is it reveals itself when we become present to it,

[00:12:37] but it's not just in present time. It's in all time. And this is something very important to

[00:12:42] recognize about the great spirit, is that spirit precedes me wherever I go. Think about that for

[00:12:50] yourself. And if you like it, say it with me. Spirit precedes me wherever I go with that clarity of love,

[00:12:58] clarity of grace, clarity of wisdom, clarity of wholeness. And when we allow ourselves to

[00:13:05] accord by its nature, which means be prepared, because not preparing is preparing to fail,

[00:13:10] but be present with trust. Then you accord with its nature and it reveals itself emphatically

[00:13:18] in your life. This invisible yet so important aspect to successful living. I liked how the

[00:13:27] Tao Te Ching put it. We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the

[00:13:34] wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.

[00:13:42] We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being,

[00:13:50] but not being is what we use. So for some of us, this sounds really confusing. For some of us,

[00:13:55] this is a divine duh, of course. Sometimes for this presence to come forward, we've got to create

[00:14:03] the space for it. We have to empty ourselves with all of the clutter, the drama, the panic,

[00:14:12] the low self-image, and come present with trust to allow this how to come forth. We live in the visible

[00:14:22] world, but we reside in the invisible also. And when you can acknowledge your connection with this

[00:14:30] invisible power, you invite this presence into your life where you begin to experience God, the divine,

[00:14:37] the spirit as an active, creative verb and not just a passive theological idea. It's right there

[00:14:47] operating in my life right now. It's right there operating in my life right now. As I am present

[00:14:55] in the now, God takes care of every how. Any spiritual teacher who's ever been worth their own salt

[00:15:05] has taught that the divine is something that's present. It's something real and happening right

[00:15:12] here and right now. This was at the heart and perhaps Jesus's most profound teaching that spirit,

[00:15:19] God, what he called the kingdom of heaven. It's here and now. And yet it's difficult to decipher

[00:15:26] because his disciples couldn't understand this point. And the people who wrote the gospels didn't

[00:15:31] get it either, but it's still right there in the teaching. One of the disciples will come up to Jesus

[00:15:35] because they think of heaven as this hierarchical kingdom that's going to come in the afterlife.

[00:15:40] And they say, Jesus, when we're in heaven, can I be like your right hand? Can I stand right behind you

[00:15:46] like spiritual hall monitor and just have like a big badge right here that shares how great I am?

[00:15:54] And Jesus will kind of shake his head and he'll do something like grab a little child

[00:15:58] and say, hey, you want to get into the kingdom of heaven? You got to be more like this kid

[00:16:04] right here. No plans at all. Just enjoying life, living in wonder. Why? Because the kingdom of heaven

[00:16:13] is right here, right now. I like how Leo Tolstoy put it in his beautiful interpretation of the gospels.

[00:16:20] He says, and if they tell you, look, it came or is coming or look, here it is. Do not believe them.

[00:16:27] The kingdom of God is not in a time or in any place. It is like lightning. It is here, there,

[00:16:34] and everywhere. And it has no time and no place because the kingdom of God that I preach is within

[00:16:41] you. I like that. The spirit is like lightning. You don't always see it, but you can hear it

[00:16:47] reverberate in the thunder. It's always right there. And if we can come present in the now

[00:16:56] with trust, if we can let go of the need to control to try and keep ourselves safe,

[00:17:04] we can allow this presence to do incredible things in our life. So, so much to say in my

[00:17:12] overwhelm in September, embracing this little motto, as corny as it may sound at first, really

[00:17:18] helped me. I really found that when I was able to stay present in the now, that God really took care

[00:17:25] of every how. And so when something works, I like to build a little bit more prayer around it. And so

[00:17:32] I have one for us today. As I am present in the now, God takes care of every how. Present in the now,

[00:17:41] I experience God's good manifest everywhere. Let's pause right there. As I am present in the now,

[00:17:49] I experience God's good manifest everywhere. When we are in that false sense of control,

[00:17:59] we live in our lives and in the world as we believe that they are. It's only when we can come

[00:18:07] to that place of being present, to embrace trust, that the world that really is, the life that really

[00:18:15] can be, is revealed to us. But we have to give up that control and open up to let it appear.

[00:18:23] Heriklidis, ancient Greek philosophy famously said, you never step into the same river twice.

[00:18:29] I don't know why he didn't say you never step into the same river. Just is what it is. But it's the

[00:18:34] same with our lives. There's no such thing as stepping into the same day twice, the same life, the same

[00:18:41] relationships. Everything is exceptionally and eternally brand new if we allow it to be. And so many of us

[00:18:51] miss that all too important layer for meaning and purpose and fulfillment called presence.

[00:18:57] presence. Capital P presence. We have to be present in the now with trust to bring it forward and to

[00:19:06] allow it to take hold in our lives. As I am present in the now, God takes care of every how.

[00:19:16] Present in the now, I experience God's good manifest everywhere. As I am present in the now,

[00:19:21] what is past is not something to look back upon, but the best of what is past is revealed

[00:19:26] as sacred memory. Control mind functions in the past and in the future. Trust functions in the present.

[00:19:37] And when we allow ourselves to be fully in this now, what is best about the past reveals itself.

[00:19:45] And what needs to be purged goes away. I've been, as many of you know, grieving the loss of my father.

[00:19:52] And one of the most challenging things is my mind tells me over and over, Josh, your dad is past.

[00:19:59] P-A-S-T. He's gone. He's no longer present. And yet my heart tells me this opposite story.

[00:20:07] That in fact, Josh, your dad has been freed from the past and is eternally present in here and now.

[00:20:14] Coming home from a run, grieving one morning, I just, again, got past all the surface madness thoughts

[00:20:21] and something deeper came forward. And I said, dad, how are you doing right now?

[00:20:25] And it was like my brain was a record needle going right in the middle of the vinyl.

[00:20:29] And the song Twist and Shout came on. Shake it up, baby now.

[00:20:34] And I looked and my eyes settled right on the book that was in front of me on the kitchen counter.

[00:20:38] And it said joy. It was the joy of cooking. Twist and shout. Joy.

[00:20:44] Joy. Was this magical thinking? Absolutely.

[00:20:49] Absolutely it was magical thinking. But here's the thing.

[00:20:53] Sometimes life wounds us so strongly or takes something away from us that's so precious

[00:20:59] that the very right byproduct is it forces us to think in a more magical way

[00:21:08] in relationship to this great unknown that we know so little about,

[00:21:14] yet speaks to us from its fullness in our hearts and in our connections, in our lives.

[00:21:21] So you're damn right it was magical thinking.

[00:21:23] But what are we to do? Rationalize it?

[00:21:27] Tell ourselves we're wrong?

[00:21:29] Or to be present and keep listening for that voice of God

[00:21:33] and those voices of our loved ones as they continue to speak to us in our lives.

[00:21:39] As we're present in the now, not only does the best of the past come forward,

[00:21:44] but we are able to affirm our eternal truth in the future as well.

[00:21:50] The Spirit precedes me wherever I go.

[00:21:54] How can we practically apply that?

[00:21:58] Thanksgiving's coming up.

[00:21:59] God, you are there even before I have turned on an oven.

[00:22:03] You are preheating this whole experience.

[00:22:07] And as I begin to plan and think about this divinely creative menu

[00:22:12] that I'm going to be a part of creating,

[00:22:13] as I begin to fret that my proud Trump supporter is going to sit down

[00:22:19] with my wounded liberal cousin right there at the table,

[00:22:23] I affirm a table of grace.

[00:22:26] I affirm, God, that you are already there right now

[00:22:31] creating that perfect consciousness for sacred gratitude and connection

[00:22:36] to let go of all that doesn't matter so that we can celebrate

[00:22:40] what is most important in our family, in our lives,

[00:22:43] getting to be right here, right now with one another.

[00:22:46] You can see where this can be powerful?

[00:22:47] Any challenge, any tough meeting, any unknown,

[00:22:51] the Spirit precedes me wherever I go.

[00:22:55] And as I am present in the now, God takes care of every how.

[00:23:01] Present in the now, I experience God's good manifest everywhere.

[00:23:04] As I am present in the now, what is past is not something to look back upon,

[00:23:08] but the best of what is past is revealed as sacred memory.

[00:23:11] As I am present in the now, there is nowhere else to be.

[00:23:16] As I am present in the now, there is nowhere else to be.

[00:23:21] Do you know what I wish for you over and over this holiday season?

[00:23:25] Just that last sentence.

[00:23:28] Oh, there's nowhere else to be.

[00:23:31] Right here and right now, this moment tells me everything I need to be.

[00:23:36] The best of what is past is right here.

[00:23:39] The best of what will be is already in the makeup,

[00:23:44] in the biology of this very moment.

[00:23:48] Kurt Vonnegut, the great writer, gave a lot of commencement speeches

[00:23:52] and in almost every one, he tells about some advice he got from his uncle Alex,

[00:23:57] which is when a moment is really good,

[00:23:59] when you're sipping lemonade with some family and friends

[00:24:03] on a beautiful day in nature,

[00:24:05] make sure you pause and stop and say to yourself,

[00:24:10] if this isn't nice, I don't know what is.

[00:24:13] If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.

[00:24:17] It's those moments that help us reveal not only the sacred,

[00:24:22] but the eternal in our lives.

[00:24:26] Control has us living in tick-tock time.

[00:24:30] Trust allows us to live in sacred time.

[00:24:33] And in those moments of full trust and fully enjoying the moment as it is,

[00:24:39] the eternal speaks to us in a beautiful way.

[00:24:43] And we feel that presence of God,

[00:24:46] that presence of ourselves,

[00:24:47] and that presence of life that has always been there,

[00:24:50] that is with us now and always will be.

[00:24:54] So moving into an affirmative prayer,

[00:24:56] I invite any of our practitioners who care to stand and join me in that.

[00:25:00] And these beautiful practitioners are available for prayer in front of the stage.

[00:25:04] And I hope you don't mind,

[00:25:05] I'm just going to say a prayer for our country today.

[00:25:10] Giving thanks for this beautiful United States of America,

[00:25:14] which more than a land mass or a collection of people is a prayer.

[00:25:18] A prayer for liberty, justice,

[00:25:23] the pursuit of happiness for all of us who are citizens,

[00:25:27] and overall everyone in the world.

[00:25:29] That is what makes America such an important divine idea.

[00:25:33] And so it is with that that I affirm and know right here and now

[00:25:37] that that prayer that we've been seeking to manifest and co-create for centuries

[00:25:43] is continuing to make itself known in the highest and best possible ways.

[00:25:50] I actually embrace the idea that the prayer of this country will never be complete,

[00:25:54] for there are always newfound ways to express and embody and realize justice,

[00:26:00] realize freedom and equality,

[00:26:02] realize what it means to live a happy, full and complete life

[00:26:07] in the fullness of embracing who we are and accepting who others are as well.

[00:26:13] I bask in gratitude in this infinite possibility.

[00:26:17] And so I share a prayer for all of our newly elected leaders.

[00:26:22] A prayer for guidance,

[00:26:24] a prayer for clarity,

[00:26:26] a prayer for divine support,

[00:26:28] and a prayer for accountability,

[00:26:30] knowing that the great citizens of this nation

[00:26:33] keep their eyes open and their discernment clear

[00:26:36] to help align and support these leaders

[00:26:39] in being within the integrity of their own conscience

[00:26:43] and of the prayer of the United States of America.

[00:26:46] Affirming and knowing this truth,

[00:26:49] even in the midst of difficult sadness or uncertainty,

[00:26:53] I remember those words of John F. Kennedy,

[00:26:55] I'm an optimist without any illusions.

[00:26:58] May we hold that spiritual truth while participating in that hard work of democracy,

[00:27:03] which sometimes works so much slower than we want it to,

[00:27:06] but is the best divinely inspired system there is.

[00:27:10] We stay present.

[00:27:12] We care for ourselves.

[00:27:14] We uplift one another.

[00:27:16] This is my prayer.

[00:27:18] And so it is.

[00:27:22] Thanks for listening to the Mile High Church podcast.

[00:27:25] This podcast is made possible by the generous contributions from listeners like you.

[00:27:30] To make a donation, please visit milehighchurch.org.