“Be Here Now”
“Be Here Now”
This has been the Hollywood House mantra for this year. It first became a part of our community’s vocabulary close to the beginning of our year together. It was mid-September and we were all gathered in the Lucy/Anna room, sitting in a circle on a sheet on the floor. It was one of the first times we did Bible study together. I don’t even remember what passage we were reading. All I remember is what I felt. It was as if I suddenly saw how I needed to view not only this year of service but also my life in general.
I have been told that I look too far into the future or am too worried about what is coming next and not what is going on at the moment. This has been a struggle for me in several periods of my life. It happened the summer before I went away to college, before I started a new job at a preschool, a month before I was moving back to California after graduating college. Most recently it happened over the course of this year as I was looking forward to going back to school to pursue a Special Education credential and moving to yet another new city.
Back to that night…I saw in my mind all the times that I hadn’t “been here now” and while I didn’t feel at the time that I missed out on anything, I am sure that I did. I was determined to live this year “here”, in Hollywood, at Hillsides, with my roommates. In all honesty, this has proved to be a continuous struggle for me throughout the year with so many exciting things ahead of me. I kept wondering how I was going to do this, having such a bad track record in the past. Well, Allison gave us each necklaces with “Be Here Now” on them. I will always keep this necklace not only as a token from this year but also as a reminder to live in the moment, be here now.