The Gift of Today

Have you ever taken a bite of something so startlingly delicious … and so smashingly delectable … that you were caught in that delightful conundrum of savoring the first bit and yet chomping at the bit for a huge taste of more?

I always feel that way during the month of January.

How I am captivated by the infant days of the New Year … and yet I long to march confidently and bravely forward into all that is ahead! 

How I love the experience of “new” and “fresh” and “untouched” that only January offers … and yet I absolutely cannot wait to splash in the sweetness of February … in the promise of March … and in the glory of April.

I can’t wait for the unfolding of 2020 … and still … I delight in all that belongs to today!

I have always had this problem in my life. I am able to live in the moment and for the moment … while at the same time longing for what only tomorrow brings.

Can you relate?

“God has given me this day to use it as I will. I can waste it – or use it for good, but what I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.” – Wilson 

I deeply long to live in the here and now … while protesting the option of catapulting my heart too quickly into tomorrow.

I am poignantly aware of the joy that only today brings … and yet I also must refuse to allow the anticipation of tomorrow to rob today of it’s unique delight.

Let me explain …

How I loved the moment that walked down the aisle into the arms of the man with whom I was head over heals in love! I can still smell the gardenias … and see Craig’s young, ruddy face … and hear Uncle Doug playing the wedding march. However, as I walked down that old church aisle, I couldn’t help but wonder what our future would hold.  Would we have children?  Would we be healthy? Would we change the world for Christ?

I loved it when my babies were little and they were gurgling happy noises … blowing sweet baby bubbles … and playing with their piggy toes.  Yet even as I listened to the precious sounds of infancy … I was wondering who they would become and what each one would accomplish. 

I think that living in the present while pondering the future is a real dilemma for all of us. I am not sure that it is a sin or even a weakness … but I have had to learn to corral those bouncing thoughts and focus on all that is precious and valuable today.

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time given to us.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

I am determined as a child of most High God not to waste one minute of this extravagant gift we have been given! I refuse to wallow in the past or to predict the future but I resolve to use today for His glory and His purposes.

And so, as we prepare to unwrap each of these valuable months that belong to 2020, this is what I resolve!  Will you join me in these declarations?

I resolve to live wholeheartedly in the moment each and every day of 2020.

I resolve that I will not dread the future nor will I predict the future but I will trust the all that lies ahead to the hands of my good, good Father.

I resolve that each day is a gift and that it has been given to me as an opportunity to praise my Father and to encourage others. 

I resolve that I will not worry about tomorrow … that I will not slog through the pain of my past … but that I will declare that every day is an extraordinary day because Jesus is with me!

And so here we are, my friend! We can’t have it all … we can only have today! So today it will be! Today with all of its glory … with all of its challenges … with all of its hope … we have been given today.

“The future I something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.” – C. S. Lewis 

Whatever you do with your today – I hope that you choose to read your Bible … sing a song … spend some time in prayer … and look for the opportunity to encourage someone.

Make it a good day … no … make it a GREAT day!

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart!” – Ecclesiastes 3:11a

Thanks for listening to my heart this week.  As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me.  And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!