Today is the day

Hi how are you all today? I am well and have had a busy week. Not only have I attended work and done household chores, but I attended a tech writers workshop yesterday which was great. We also had a massive storm last week. Thankfully our house didn’t get damage but my friends did. How was your week?

This week I want to talk about today. Let me ask you a question? In a normal day, how much of your thinking is on today? Most of us, if we are honest, put up with today but we live for tomorrow. Our thoughts go to a better tomorrow. We tell ourself- tomorrow will be better, when this happens my life will be great, when I save for this, my life will turn around. But who knows tomorrow never comes. We only live in today.

So let’s look at a few verses in the Bible that contain the word today.

The first one is found in Psalm 118:24 in the NLT Bible and states:

²⁴ This is the day the Lord has made.
    We will rejoice and be glad in it.

As soon as we get up every morning, we should remind ourselves of this. Today is the day that God made for us and our attitude should be of joy and thanksgiving? Why? Because we get to live another day for God on this earth. We get to be His witnesses, work on our calling and show the world Jesus in our words, actions and attitudes. The alternative to not living today is not good.

The second one is Matthew 6:34 in the Message Bible which states:

³⁴ “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Read this verse again and take note of how it starts- give your attention to what God is doing right now. Too often, when we don’t live in today, we miss the things that God is doing in our lives. They may be little things but they are so important. The next thing this verse states is don’t get worked up by what may or may not happen tomorrow.

This is what happens to me if I start to stress. I am trying to solve tomorrow’s problems today. But if I just focus on what has my attention today and deal with it now, then I am not getting anxious about tomorrow. This is why daily to-do lists are so important. They focus us on today and keep our mind off tomorrow. If you find yourself getting worried about tomorrow, write yourself a list of what you want to accomplish today and soon your mind will be focussed on where you are right now – today.

The last verse that I want to look at is the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6: 9 to 13 in the Message Bible which states:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
    as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
    Yes. Yes. Yes.

This sample prayer is all about today. It doesn’t contain anything about tomorrow. Its total focus is on today.

Let’s look at those areas of focus-

• God – God is our Father today. We need God to reveal Himself to us daily and help us to navigate today.
• Provision – each day we need food, water, shelter, clothes and relationships. These are the things that should be in our everyday. However, God promises to provide for us if we will seek Him and put Him first.
• Forgiveness- each day we should ensure that we are in right relationship with God. This means obeying His commands – loving God and loving others. If we truly love others, we will walk in forgiveness towards them.
• Protection- God promises to protect us. Things will still happen in our lives but each day we need to remind ourselves that God is with us.

Can you see how important today is? This week let’s live in today and let tomorrow take care of itself. Your stress levels will decrease and you will be able to focus better.

Have a great week and keep living the life God intended for you.

Karen