It happened in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLV. For all of us watching the game at home, the microphones picked up what was intended to be a private moment between a coach and a player.
With only moments left in the game, and their team trailing behind, the coach said to the player, “Now is the time. Now is the time for you to go out and make it happen. Don’t wait, do it now.”
As the player turned to go back to the game, we could see he had taken the words of his coach into his being, and had made the decision to do what his coach asked him to do.
His next play was the game’s turning point.
Inside each of us, there is a “coach.” It is the still small voice within, saying, “Now is the time, don’t wait, do it now.”
What does that mean? Now is the time for what? The football player knew exactly what it meant. He was in the middle of a football game, he knew it was about the ball, he knew where that ball was supposed to go, and he knew his role in making that happen.
For us, things are usually not that clear. We often aren’t sure what, or where, our personal “ball” is; we are clueless about where it is supposed to go once we find it, and even if we know all that, there is confusion about what our role is towards “making it happen.“
We do know that we want our daily life be our spiritual life. We want to do the shopping, wash the dishes, run our business, take care of our family, pay our bills, eat our food, all within a spiritual awareness that the Divine One, intelligent, loving Mind, is guiding our every move. We want to be able to follow that guidance in the same way the football player followed his coach.
However, unlike the football player, we often question this process. How do we know we are guided? How can we be sure that the internal voice we hear, or the impulsion we feel, is the guidance of good?
Then there is the ultimate confusion about whether or not we are supposed to make things happen, or let things happen, as in “God’s will be done.”
Deepak Chopra said, “In order to acquire anything in the physical universe, you have to relinquish your attachment to it. This doesn’t mean you give up your intention to create your desire, and you don’t give up the desire. You give up your attachment to the result.”
To me, this is a point that merges daily life into spiritual Reality. Because, in order to have an intention behind a desire, although often not aware of it, we had to have heard that still small voice, or felt the divine impulsion within to take action.
This “making it happen” is action taken in response to the Divine’s guidance, and eliminates the ego’s attachment to the result. Putting desires within the context of spiritual Reality, we follow Angel Ideas that ring like bells within our hearts.
It is the coincidence of the divine with the human on display. It is our God-defined nature recognized, perceived, and lived. This is inspired perception and spiritual discernment. It is the fulfillment of the promise, “Behold, I stand at the open door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20)
We can trust that shifting to this spiritual perception of life is the same as opening a window to the infinite, which reveals painless plenty.
What was the football player doing? He was following guidance that he knew and trusted. He gathered all his training and practice and gave it his all in the now.
We can do the same. We can follow the guidance that assures us that we begin, and end, and live, and as the spiritual idea of God, which means that all we ever need, and want, is present and available now.
The master-coach has tasked us to live a Love-defined life. As we respond to the demand to “do it now, don’t wait,” we are proving that divine law governs all our human activities.
This is our practice. This is our training that enables us to hear and respond to the call, “now is the time” and trust both the process, and the outcome, to be the unfoldment of good.