Fr. Alexander Elchaninov: concentrate on the present moment

Our continual mistake is that we do not concentrate upon the present day, the actual hour, or our life; we live in the past or in the future; we are continually expecting the coming of some special hour when our life shall unfold itself in its full significance. And we do not observe that life is flowing like water through our finders, sifting the like precious grain from a loosely fastened bag.
Constantly, each day, each hour, God is sending us people, circumstances, affairs, which should mark the beginning of our renewal; yet we give them no attention, and thus we resist God's will concerning us. Indeed, how can God help us? Only by sending us in our daily life certain people, and certain coincidences of circumstance. If we accepted every hour of our life as the hour of God's will concerning us, as the decisive, most important hour of our life - what sources of joy, love, strength, as yet hidden from us, would spring from the depths of our soul!
+Fr. Alexander Elchaninov, from Diary of a Russian Priest, Fragments of a Diary