One day at a time...

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been telling people, “you have to take this one day at a time.” I should have realized that God was trying to speak to me as well but I didn’t at the time. Then yesterday, that light bulb finally went on, “Hey, I need to take this one day at a time.”

What does that mean?

For me, there are times when I get so caught up on what might or could happen in the future that I get overwhelmed at the journey ahead. Jacob and Elijah have been watching the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the past couple nights we’ve been watching the final movie “Return of the King”. This is a long movie series. But what is interesting is that you have Frodo who is the main character. He has this daunting task of taking the ring to Mt. Doom and destroying it. You think that he would be the hero of the story but he’s not. The real hero is Sam. His simple friend with childlike thinking. Sam knows that the task is hard and burdensome for Mr. Frodo but Sam still believes that they will complete the task and return home.
Oh, if we could all take this kind of approach to life. One day at a time, one moment at a time, just keeping moving forward.

I know that I need to set goals for the future. Doing so allows me to prioritize things in my life. If my goal is to raise three respectful young men then today I will make time to correct my sons when they are being disrespectful. If my goal is to sell books to readers, then today I will write instead of watching that TV show because I know what will get me closer to my goal. (Doesn’t always happen but at least I know.)

We need to set goals for the future. But we must also live each moment fully alert.

God, help us to live each day. Help us not to punch in a destination and coast through life on auto-pilot but to live with intention. To live on purpose. Yes, we need goals but our ultimate goal should be to see your kingdom in the here and now. To see people as you see them. To value every person and every moment. Amen