by Annette Bridges. ©2009. All rights reserved.
Do you have days you don’t look forward to? Or do you have days you dread with every fiber of your being? Today is one of those days for me. Actually, the entire week ahead consists of days I don’t want to face.
My husband left for a week-long fishing trip. In fact, in our twenty-eight-year-old marriage, this was his first commercial airline flight without me. Actually, we’ve spent relatively few days apart since the day we met.
Although I can handle my fear of being alone and of being separated from him fairly well, I still don’t like it. And I certainly don’t relish time apart from him.
Recently, I heard someone quote a favorite Bible passage in a way that has me thinking about my days ahead in a fresh light. It was the way he accented the very first word, with a big lift in his voice, which grabbed my attention.
He said, “This is the day the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalms 118:24)
This is the day? Today — the day I’ve been dreading for weeks? How could that be? How could today — of all days — be a day to be happy about?
I concede that every day is ordered by the Lord. And if the Lord — who is good, who is Love — made each day, then every day must surely have something good about it. I reluctantly reasoned this must also include today, even though when this morning arrived, I thought it was going to be anything but a good one.
And yet when I think of each day as a day the Lord has created for His beloved children, I realize that this day and every day must have purpose, potential and promise.
I know it’s probably normal to be sad when I’m separated from the man I dearly love. But I really don’t want to spend my next few days doing nothing but counting down the days until he returns.
I came across a compelling quote that was attributed to Muhammad Ali: “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” And that is exactly what I would like to do this week. I want to make the most of every hour of each day. So I’ve set a variety of goals that I hope to accomplish. In fact, I’m getting excited about reaching each goal!
I love that Paul tells us, “Now is the day….” And I love the line in The Lord’s Prayer that says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This day — today — the Lord is going to give us everything we need to survive. That’s comforting! And I can’t help but recall a favorite quote by Mary Baker Eddy that my step-dad recited to me every morning when he drove me to school: “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings.”
There seems to be great import placed upon valuing each day. When we look forward only to what some future date potentially has to offer, we are probably missing all the possibilities that today is bringing to us. We may even lose or miss out on a great opportunity.
The Children of Israel learned to trust that day by day manna would be supplied to them. And they were instructed to pick up only the manna they needed for each day. They didn’t need to worry about gathering and saving bread for tomorrow because tomorrow there would be new bread for them to eat.
Do you find it hard to trust that the Lord will give you whatever you need each day? Oh but you can!
No doubt every day will make its demands of us — some more than others. But we have God’s promise of daily bread. I believe we can lean on our Father-Mother God when we’re down and depressed, when we’re struggling and worried, or when we’re uncertain and anxious, and He will feed us with exactly what we need. I’ve experienced God’s good grace in the past, and my faith assures me that I can trust and count on it to help me this week.
So I’m not going to fret about a whole week apart from my hubby. I’m going to focus on one day at a time and watch God reveal His days to me one by one.
Have a fabulous day, my friends, and may you make each and every day the best it can be. God will help you!