Just For Today

Several years ago I went to a workshop where the presenter predicted that in the near future the primary question volunteers would ask would not be, "How much MONEY does it cost?" The primary question would be, "How much TIME will it take?" Someone else admonished, "You don't let other people spend your money, so don't let them spend your time."

Time is the great equalizer. Bill Gates may be worth billions of dollars, but he does not have even one second more a day than you and I have. (That is pretty humbling when you think of it!)

Often I am overwhelmed with all the things I DON'T get accomplished. (It seems preaching and farming can be similar in that you can have more to do at the end of a day than when you started!) I recently read that "Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!"

As I turn the calendar to January of 2012, it is hard to believe how fast the last 30 years have sped by. I am reminded that, as an old song sang, "...yesterday is gone, tomorrow may never come…we have this moment, today" In reality all we really have is just this moment, all we have is today. Each of us has things in our past that have hurt and disappointed us. There may be things that we are ashamed of. A friend once said, "My life got significantly better when I stopped trying to give me a better past!" We cannot start over, we do not start where we wish we were, but we start today, right where we are.

The glorious "good news" is that no matter what lies behind, if we will just acknowledge it as OUR problem and not someone else's and release it into God's hands, there is forgiveness and grace. I found a great bit of wisdom that simply talks about, "just for today." I pray it will be a blessing as you launch out into the great unknown of 2012.

 

JUST FOR TODAY...

Just for today I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problem at once.

Just for today, I will be happy.

Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful.

Just for today, I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to fit everything to my own desires.

Just for today, I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don't want to do -- just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt; they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.

Just for today, I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, criticize not one bit, and not try to improve anybody except myself

Just for today, I will have a program. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.

Just for today, I will have a quiet half hour with God. I will try to get a better perspective of my life.

Just for today, I will be unafraid. Especially, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful.

 
 

Life is not made up of a few great big events, life is an accumulation of a whole lot of little events—Life is not measured so much in the accomplishments of years, but of days. Let's make every day of 2012 count!

 

Christmas Is Coming!!!

Christmas is coming, that is FAITH. Long before the first Noel, Israel was looking for the coming King. That expectation bound together all of the Old Testament. Isaiah caught that hope so eloquently: "For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace". Isaiah 9:6 (NLT) Sometimes I have trouble keeping the Christmas faith. Times of intense suffering, times of emotional pain, times of financial insecurity, times of strained or fractured relationships, times of grief and sorrow. But I must keep the faith…Christmas is coming! We can take courage from Habakkuk: "This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed." Hab 2:3 (NLT) The Christmas I am talking about is more than December 25, it is when Christ is re-born into our everyday lives. It is when He is re-born into our suffering, failures and even our joys. Soon after the holidays, the trees will go into the trash, many of the trinkets and toys will be broken, and families will go back to their jobs and duties. Decorations will be stored for another year, but the Baby lives! Jesus lives to love us. He lives to comfort our aching hearts. He lives to touch our beds of pain. He lives to carry our sins. He lives to conquer the grave. He lives to rejoice in our victories. The great news has to be the fact that Christmas is coming! Hold on…Hang in there…Christmas is coming for you!

Thankful for People

David A. Seamands tells about the day in the early thirties, William Stidger and a fellow pastor sat in a restaurant talking about the worldwide depression--the suffering people, rich committing suicide, the jobless. The pastor said, "In two or three weeks I have to preach on Thanksgiving Day. What can I say?" Stidger said it was like the Spirit of God answered that question: "Why not thank those people who've been a blessing in your life and affirm them during this terrible time?" He thought of an English teacher who had instilled in him a love of literature and verse, affecting all his writing and preaching. So he wrote to her.

In a matter of days he got a reply in the feeble scrawl of the aged. "My Dear Willy: I can't tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my eighties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and like the last leaf of autumn lingering behind. You'll be interested to know that I taught in school for more than 50 years, and yours is the first note of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning, and it cheered me as nothing has done in many years."

There is a list of people I am thankful, and some of them I was able to thank for the impact they've had in my life, but I encountered some of them back so long ago I have no idea how to contact them, and some may be deceased by now. I thank God for a praying mother who not only talked her faith, but walked it before her children. I am thankful for the teachers who truly made a difference in my life. There was a 2^nd grade teacher, Mrs. Reasoner, at little Hazeltine School in Henderson, CO, who helped me learn to read. I was hopelessly behind and struggling. Mrs. Reasoner kept me after school and had me reading out loud while she was doing some of her other work. I was stumbling and fumbling so badly that I began to cry. I will never forget that woman who sat down beside me and cried with me. Her investment made it possible for me to eventually graduate from college. I never got to thank her. The list of people who have positively impacted my life would more than fill this page. Suffice it to say, I have truly been blessed by some wonderful folks.

In light of debris from hurricanes and the floods, earthquakes and the tough financial crisis, we need to find ways to be thankful today. We may more closely resemble what Alice Johnson wrote: "When I was a young mother with two preschoolers, I was often overwhelmed. One night I fell into bed, exhausted. I poured out my frustrations to God. 'The kids won't mind, the house is a mess, my husband doesn't seem to care …'--the list went on. Suddenly, a voice said to my heart, 'Which one do you want me to take away?' Everything I was complaining about was precious to me. Immediately, I began to thank God for everything on my list--something I continue to do now as a grandmother."

Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life is a book that is several hundred years old, and the language is a bit out of date, but it made a difference in John Wesley's life. In it William Law wrote, "Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice, but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God willeth, who received everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it."

I am sure that by now most, if not all have realized that Thanksgiving is about more than gratefully reciting a list of THINGS, most of which we could do without. Perhaps we would do well this year to pick out some of those people who have touched our lives and express our gratitude to them. Email is OK, but something more personal seems appropriate. Imagine a world where during one 7-day period everyone on the face of the earth would have someone say, "Thanks for the special way you have touched my life". I have a feeling it could change a lot of "blue days".

Certainly, we want to thank God in the spirit of the little fellow who prayed, "And God, please take care of yourself—if anything happens to You we are in a real mess!"