I have only today.
I am given only today.
I am not guaranteed tomorrow, or even the remainder of this today.
Today is important. Today is beautiful. Today is precious.
Today is not to be wasted.
Does that scare anyone else? Does me. I gets my people-pleasing (i.e., legalism) tendencies all up in a tizzy. What if I do it wrong?
God, I know you’re with me each day, every single today. Thank you. I feel You and I’m learning more about You with every today.
But I want to please You with each one of my todays. I know I am at my best when I’m glorifying you. I want to work for you and do great things for you. I know I need rest. I want to run and not grow weary. I want to rest in each day, knowing that I did the right things for you. I do not know the perfect combination of all of those things.
I know I get it wrong, I know I work off my own agenda more often than following Yours.
But.
You promise to help me with each one of my todays. I can rest in that. Lamentations 3:22-23
You promise to be strong, powerful in my weakness. You promise that Your grace is sufficient for all that I could ever need. 2 Corinthians 12:9
You promise me that You will comfort me in all my trials. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
You promise good to me and for me. Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11
I know You can and YOU WILL teach me wisdom (James 1:5), that you will redeem each day, whether restful or busy, to Your glory and my good. I ask for a teachable and receptive spirit, and a heart that responds to you Ephesians 1:18. I ask for my eyes to be fixed intently on You. Psalm 145:15
Ecclesiastes 7:8, 10, 13-14
The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.
Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.
Consider the work of God,
For who is able to straighten what He has bent?
In the day of prosperity be happy,
But in the day of adversity consider—
God has made the one as well as the other
So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.
Consider the work of God. There’s a multitude of unfathomable thoughts in that one statement. Consider. Use my brain. Turn on my metacognitive skills. The writer does not tell us to feel the work of God, but to consider. Feelings take minimal cognitive processing, reactions only. But to consider, to ponder, is to use my intellect. To step away from feelings and think.
Consider what?
That all things are in God’s control and in His hands.
That I cannot ‘fix’ everything, or much of anything.
In the days of good and ease and sweetnesses – Consider the work of God
In the days of hardship and frustration and what-ifs and last nerves and hair pulling – Consider the work of God
Consider that each end of the circumstance spectrum points to God, whether good or bad. God calls me to be disciplined in both ends.
Consider the work of God in every sloppy kiss. In every welcome home squeeze hug. In quiet moments. In combing my daughter’s hair. In teaching my boys to tidy the kitchen and put away their laundry.
Consider the work of God in every scary diagnosis. When the questions and demands come like machine gunfire. When wiping Nutella off the dining room table. When tired seeps out of all your joints.
The work of God is always present, and it always points to His presence.
Every day. Every today.