Rabbi Tarfon urges us all to act responsibly now. He said, “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now.” He doesn’t give us a reason to be just, loving and humble. He just asks us to do it Now. What’s the urgency, and more importantly for some of us, what’s the payback? After all, that’s a major commitment to changing the world, through a not so simple act of lovingkindness and justice. Why should we?
Certainly, our gracious generosity of time, energy and spirit is not always appreciated. Why then do so many of us offer our kindness to others? Some of us do good deeds because we have expectations. The problem often is that our expectations and those of the people we help are not always in alignment. Try to have that talk about the dangers of drug use with today’s teens, and you’ll know what I mean. Try having a conversation with someone with deeply embedded beliefs in anything about a different perspective, and you may experience this battle of ideas and expectations. But we continue to care. Why?
On the surface it seems that we are acting to present ourselves as just, fair and loving, whether or not we really believe that we are all those things. Some may even be aware that we want to experience love from the “other” person, so we extend our loving acts in the hope that the others will return the favor. Others may say that we want to matter in some way, so we rescue others from their challenges in the hopes of feeling good about it. And sadly, with all these desires for change, the reality we create for ourselves is awareness of enormous grief.
Perhaps there is an answer: Be open to life, curious about what is in the present moment. Transactional acts – if I do this, you’ll do that – are bound to disappoint, because that cycle never delivers enough of what we are seeking. Desires and expectations are tricks of the mind, unsatisfying ruses that fling us into the future, or drag us kicking and screaming sometimes to the past, so that we then miss the joy of the present, by obscuring it with untrue thoughts.
We are one spirit, expressing as the divine love of the universe, in the present moment. If we are awake to our truth, we are aware that we cannot be anything but love. We expect no thanks because thanks are a future event that may or may not happen, creating suffering.
In the present moment we need no thanks for our acts of compassion and lovingkindness. The true expression of our humility is to ask for nothing, because kindness and love are not transactions, they are just the way it is in the universe. What we do “for others” we do for ourselves, because we are one spirit. Who we are has no requirements, no payback, no expectations. Be still now, be the love you are and expect no applause.

I woke up one morning wondering about my life as it is now. I was surprised when my awareness of my present experience thrust me into the past. I reflected, I admit regretfully, on lost opportunities to be in the moment, instead of attempting to live my life in the ethereal future. I realized that I missed the present moment in my fight with time. Woody Allen once said that “life is what happens when we’re busy making plans.” The battle, more like a war with time has been one launched in my own mind. The concept of time is constructed in the mind in a failed attempt to control our life experiences. Controlling time is much like boxing the air. Believing that time is a viable vehicle for our desires and future, is fighting a losing battle with a mental sandcastle that only exists because we painstakingly build it. Like most sandcastles, it washes away, as our imaginary grip on time renders us defeated, weary and stressed. Here’s a mental knot of time that we may have difficulty untying:

I use my time to prepare for some future time when I can take the time to relax and spend time with myself and the people I love. I don’t have time to waste. Time is limited and scarce and precious. Give me enough time and I will make time to be with you. But, at this time, I’m too busy to spend the time. I only have a little time left before I run out of time. Time is short and my lifetime is short, so I have to make the best of the time that I have to live. I have to use my time wisely. Time waits for no one. There’s never enough time in the day to do everything I have to do, but some time in the future, I’ll have time.
Time flies. I don’t remember where all the time went. I was spending time doing something that was important. I don’t remember what it was. It must have been important …at the time. I don’t remember…

Now is all that we ever experience of life and love. All else is a constructed reality that continually offers frustrating, crazy making, twists and knots that cloud our awareness of who we really are. We are timeless spiritual beings, expressing who we are as we love and touch the core of our being. We acknowledge who we are being with love, compassion, kindness, and breath in the present moment.
Be still. Lay down your defensive armor of limited time. All is possible now. All is well now. All is as it should be now. All is love; be that love now.