One Day at a Time
By Jeff Harkin
It’s true that the Lord covers our past and holds our future, and we need to affirm this and to live in this grace and peace. In fact, He is the Alpha and the Omega, that is, the Eternal Beginning and the Eternal End. Yet, as most of us know, His Name is “I Am.” (Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58) In other words, He is HERE AND NOW! True, our past and our future are all the same to Him because He is eternal. Yet “I Am” is present tense, and nothing less. Thus, He intends that our walk with Him be present tense, HERE! NOW! The history we have with Him builds faith for today and our future in Him builds hope. Yet our God is literally IN THE MOMENT with us. In His personal contact with you and I, that’s where we find Him.
That’s one main reason we are learning to live one day at a time.
Very few people know it’s important to stop and to simply be in the moment. Ask yourself if you even know what that means. Hopefully you do: Maybe the last time you hugged your baby or your grandchild, maybe the last time you caught the aroma of bacon frying early in the morning and you were hungry, maybe the last time you were hot and sweaty and you stepped into a cool shower. These sorts of things can bring us into the moment; Unfortunately for most of us, it’s only for a moment; then our minds are on to other things, often elsewhere!
How often have you been in prayer or in the Word or in church but your mind was traveling elsewhere? That’s the typical human experience. How about being in the moment with the Lord, the Here and Now? The word being is, of course, present tense. You are first of all a human being, a now being, if I can put it that way. Can being in the moment become a way of life?
True, our testimonies of what Jesus has done in our lives in times past bless us and others, powerfully. And we do make plans for the future subject to His provision and direction. And, obviously, our decision concerning eternity is crucial. No problem. But do you live mainly in the future? Instead of now? Is your God primarily a God of the past or of the future, and, thus, not exactly the “I Am”? That leaves a pretty big vacuum for you HERE and NOW.
Most recovering people I’ve known have to learn to do one day at a time, often one moment at a time. They never say, “I know I can make it through the rest of my life clean and sober.” (That would be overwhelming and unmanageable.) Most usually say, “I believe, with the Lord, I can make it through this day clean.” Sometimes they have to say, “I don’t even know if I can make it through the entire day clean, but, with God, I can make it through the morning. Then I’ll do the afternoon, then the night.” The beauty of this is, it pretty much brings each one into the moment. There are some advantages to being weak in ourselves.
I have to live this way too, but not on account of addictions. How about you? Jesus said, “Tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34 NASB) He handles all eternity at one time. We cannot. We are designed primarily for the here and now with Him. This understanding can make our lives much more manageable and, thus, much less stressful. Thank You, Jesus!
