Jesus
said in His mountain message, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is
its own trouble”
(Matt. 6:34). What a telling statement. I’ve been thinking a lot
lately about the value and beauty of a single day.
Each
day has its own sunrise, its own sunset. No two are exactly
alike. Every day is different, with its own weather, its own wind and
temperature, its own warmth or lack of it. Every sunrise is special in
its own way; so with every sunset. They are all similar, but no two are
the same.
What a
joy to see a new day born. Every sunrise speaks of a new beginnings—a
new slate, a new page. No matter how bad last night’s nightmare, or
yesterday’s bad weather, with the first splash of sunshine across your
quilt, everything is washed clean and you can start over.
A new
day is a resurrection of sorts, too. With each new day we are raised up
to new possibilities, new perspectives, new opportunities to serve and
glorify God.
Sunsets
serve a purpose, too. They remind us of what we did or didn’t do that
day. As the sun disappears each evening, we look for rest if we’ve used
the day well. And it brings us little twinges of conscience if we
didn’t. If you’re right with God, you can look forward to the sunset.
Each
day has its own thoughts. The
thoughts that accompany each new day relate directly to neither
yesterday or tomorrow; they belong peculiarly to today. You can’t do
tomorrow’s thinking today. Sure, you can plan for tomorrow; but the
thought you used to do so is today’s thought, not tomorrow’s. And you
can relate back to yesterday in your mind, but the very thoughts you
used are today’s thoughts, not yesterday’s. “As a man thinks in his
heart so is he”
(Prov. 23:7). Today’s thoughts belong to today.
Every
day brings new circumstances and new possibilities. Circumstances have
to be handled. So do possibilities. You have choose every day what
you’ll do with them. That means you have to meditate, contemplate,
discriminate, then decide on what actions you will take about what’s
happening around you. Oh, you can put off thinking about it, but
procrastination seldom serves anybody well, and you’ll likely be sorry
if you put it off till later.
Good
and evil thoughts battle one another every day. We all have some of
both. You have to choose which you will allow residency in your mind.
“…give no place to the Devil,” Paul said
(Eph. 4:27).
Someone has said “you can’t keep the birds from flying over your head,
but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.” It’s that way
with evil thoughts. They’re going to race through your mind every
day—count on it—but you don’t have to give them a place to stay.
Each day has its own joy and its own sadness. Information—both
good and bad—travels quickly these day. And each day you’ll find some
good news and some bad, some joy and some sadness. Both, it seems to me,
are necessary to the good life. The joys bring us encouragement and give
us pleasure. Sadness brings us to a realization of who and where we are,
and the fragileness of time. Just as joy encourages and makes our
disposition sanguine, so sadness brings us stamina, teaches us patience,
and keeps us courageous as we struggle through the vicissitudes of life.
Solomon said, “in the day of prosperity, be joyful, but in the day of
adversity, consider”
(Eccl. 7:14). Did you notice that there is a day of prosperity
and a day of adversity? The actions for each are recommended. When the
day is good we should rejoice and be thankful; when it is not, we should
give due consideration to the fragileness of life. Furthermore, we are
told by the wise man, “Surely God has appointed the one as well as they
other…” If you use each day to serve God, the adversity will be of as
much benefit as will the joy. That’s if you serve God.
Each
day is a gift from God. Every
one of them lasts 24 hours. It’s up to us what we do with them. We can
use them to glorify Him, or we can waste them with inordinate pleasures,
worldly ambitions, and illicit thoughts. It’s up to each one to decide
what this 24 hours will mean in his life. And no matter how many of
those 24 hours we still have, each one is its own, and each one will be
used as we see fit to use it.
I read
somewhere that “yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a
gift, that’s why we call it the present.” “It is not the care of the
day, but the cares of tomorrow that weigh man down. For the needs of
today, we have corresponding strength given. For the morrow, we must
trust. It is not ours yet” (George MacDonald).
“Today,
if you will hear His voice…”
(Psa. 95:7).
Other Articles by Dee Bowman
Competition For the Mind
The Family Together
The Importance of Good Judgment
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