Staying present is a vital part of our spirituality. When we are grounded in the moment, we are better able to discern the whisperings of the Spirit and feel peace during times of stress or sadness.
As a recent guest on LDS Living’s podcast Out of the Best Books, Dr. Daniel Belnap, a Brigham Young University professor of ancient scripture, shared a verse that can help us visualize the act of staying present:
“For you shall not go out with haste nor by flight. For the Lord will go before you and the God of Israel will be your rearward” (Isaiah 52:12).
Stay Present by Staying in the Camp
This scripture drops us into what we can think of as a metaphorical camp, one that’s on the move and heading towards exaltation. Dr. Belnap uses this imagery to teach his students about our progression through mortality.
“Wherever [the camp] is going, God will be in front. God will be behind,” Dr. Belnap says. “And, therefore, the impetus is to stay in the camp. As long as you’re in the camp, you’re good.”
But he points out that two things can remove us from the camp. The first is sin.
“Sinning stops your progression. The camp keeps moving forward,” he says. “So, given enough time, if you don’t clean up the sin, if you don’t repent … you end up falling out of the camp and out of the Lord’s divine protection.” The repentance process makes it possible to reenter the camp.
The second way to get out of the camp is by running ahead.
“I think a lot of people run ahead of the camp,” Dr. Belnap says. “And when you run ahead of the camp, it’s outside of the Lord’s timing. You run ahead [with] the anxieties, concerns, fears of the future. You’ve run ahead of the camp, [but] as the scripture says, ‘you shall not go out with haste nor by flight.’”
Our mortal relationship with time can make it difficult to stay within God’s comfort and guidance. We are constantly being distracted by things that pull us away from Him.
“We’re so bound by time, and we’re so governed by time,” Dr. Belnap says. “I don’t think social media makes that any easier. As much as I appreciate and understand what social media does, it doesn’t reward critical thinking. It doesn’t reward taking your time to move through things. It rewards immediate, visceral, emotional reaction.
“And that tends to [encourage] running ahead of the camp more than anything else. I see a lot of people who are looking right in front of them, and that’s all they’re really looking at. They’re not pausing and looking around them.”
Out of the Best Books co-host Sarah Collins adds that the natural man or woman may also assume they simply don’t need the camp.
“I think there’s human tendencies on both [ends],” she says. “The natural man’s [tendency] is to maybe stay behind or get a little lazy. And then the other one is to go, ‘I can work myself to the finish line by myself without that training, without that camp.’”
Appreciate the View Right Now
Dr. Belnap provides another visual that can help us curb the tendency to run ahead:
“If anyone’s ever gone mountain climbing and reached a point where there’s a series of switchbacks, you look ahead of you, and it’s just daunting. [But] just stop for a second and look at where you’ve come from. …
“I think you can get too focused on the endpoint but then lose sight of the view that you’ve got. … And the view right now is pretty cool.”
As we look back and take time to recognize our progress and the beauty of our current situation, we can feel contentment and gratitude. This allows us to steadily continue forward without the impulse to rush.
“I think people can freak out a lot about the future,” Dr. Belnap says. “[But the Lord says,] ‘Just stay in the camp. … I’ve got the views. Look at the horizon. … You’re going to be fine.’”
More articles to help you stay present:
▶ This new hymn is a must-listen if you have anxiety
▶ One of the best antidotes to fear of the future
▶ A simple way to feel connected to Christ in the here and now
