Being Present to the Presence

I am regretting my past and fearing the future. Suddenly my Teacher was speaking: “My name is I AM.” The Teacher paused. I waited. The Teacher continued, “When you live in the past, with its mistakes and regrets, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I WAS.

When you live in the future, with its problems and fears, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I WILL BE.

When you live in the moment, it is not hard. I am HERE. My name is I AM.

Helen Mallicoat

In the reading from Exodus, God delivers the people from slavery and oppression in Egypt. In the present moment they are encamped but they idealize the past and fear their future fate. They cry out against Moses and God. “Did you bring us all the way out here so Pharaoh’s soldiers could bury us in the desert?  What’s wrong with being buried in the fleshpots of Egypt?” Continue reading