Today IS the future

 

 

The only preparation for the morrow is the right use of today. The stone in the hands of the builder must be put in its place and fitted to receive another. The morrow comes for naught, if today is not heeded. Neglect not the call that comes to thee this day, for such neglect is nothing else than boasting thyself of tomorrow. — G. Bowen.

 

I am not ashamed to admit that I have a LOT of hobbies and interests. Only this morning, I was talking to my husband about all the things I wanted to do, and bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t fit it all in.

I can’t remember the last time I was actually bored. Quite possibly, it was 40 years ago! I know, this is showing my age, but it really is true. A person with numerous hobbies will almost NEVER be bored!

That’s a plus. But it does have its downside. The downside is that there are so many things to choose from and only so many hours in a day and only so many days in a week. Weeks turn into months and months into years, and we are left scratching our heads as to where the time went and what we have to show for it.

Priorities become of paramount importance.

Do you realise that every day is a gift from God?

Do you realise that with each breath you breathe, with every inhale and exhale, you are reflecting the goodness of God? Every morning that we open our eyes and see the sun peek over the horizon is a gift from God. It is a new day full of opportunities for joy, for growth, for gratitude and the chance to show God’s love and reflect his heart to those around us.

Every single heartbeat is a gift from God. Don’t take it for granted.

If this is true, and it is, then how do we use, accept, and cherish the gift we’ve been given?

We make good use of it!

Read over the quote at the top of the page again.

“The only preparation for the morrow is the right use of today”

What are you doing with your day? Are you stopping to acknowledge the gift that it is?

Every day, as we rise out of bed and prepare for the day, we make a choice as to how we will use our day. What will I prioritize? What will I fill my day with? How will I spend my God-given 24 hours?

If we want to prepare for tomorrow, we have to make good use of today.

Today IS the future. What you do with your today greatly impacts what your tomorrows look like.

Did you just casually step over your day while chasing a career? Did it pass you by while you were wishing yourself into a new season? Did you get so busy with family life, appointments, bills and your to-do list that before you knew it, the day was gone, and a new one had begun?

James 4:14 - Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Time is short. Life is a passing shadow. And today is important. What you choose to fill your day with today impacts what happens the next day, and the next and the next.

We are reminded in scripture that our days are numbered, and our life is like a vapour. What we do with our time is so important.

On my free days, when my outside-the-home work is done, I often face quite the conundrum. With endless possibilities to fill my day with, I have to make a choice as to what is important, what is urgent, what I want to do, what I need to do, what I have time to do etc etc.

I often feel like the apostle Paul in Romans when he says, “For the good that I would I do not….” etc. (Romans 7) I know this is not totally in context, but I think you get what I mean.

The only way we can prepare for the future and the days ahead, is by using today wisely. Which is why I say, what you choose to do or not to do today, will have a direct impact on what lies ahead.

Priorities. Priorities. Priorities. Why does it always come down to priorities? It really does matter how we fill our days. It really does matter that we ask for God’s wisdom in organizing our days, letting Him arrange our days and prioritize our never-ending to-do lists.

Sometimes we just need to set aside our hobbies for the day and spend time in God’s Word. Reading, studying, meditating and learning from him. I’m glad that that IS one of my favourite hobbies and interests. But sometimes, I’ll admit, it’s a toss-up between that and so many other things.

Sometimes it’s people we need to make time for. That friend that needs encouragement. That new convert that needs discipling. That frazzled mum that needs a hand in her home or an hour to herself to run errands without the children in tow.

No matter what role or what season we find ourselves in, we always have people counting on us, relying on us, and possibly looking up to us. We are setting an example by how we choose to spend our days.

When we fill our precious days with things of eternal value, it's like a bank up in Heaven receiving a deposit. Gaining interest. Laying up treasures in Heaven. (Matthew 6:19-21) Every day we take for granted and every day we don’t offer up to God, asking him to order it, is a day wasted. An opportunity wasted.

Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t take a ‘chill’ day now and then. Even Christ himself rested and emphasized its importance. (Mark 6:31)

There are times when we need to take a day to slow down the pace a little, take some time off, catch up with friends, do some shopping or whatever it is that you do to relax.  We just need to be mindful of the time we are spending on different activities and take care that we don’t prioritize the comfortable over the important.

We need God’s wisdom each and every day. We need his wisdom to know how he would have us use our time. We are reminded in Ephesians to redeem the time.

Ephesians 5:15-16 - See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

One of the definitions for the Greek word used for redeeming is to “rescue it from loss”. I think that is a very apt definition. We have to rescue our days from loss. Rescue them from being wasted.

We need to consistently ask for God to order our days. Although we may have our day all planned out, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, God often has a different plan altogether. And we have to be okay with that.

He sees the bigger picture. His eyesight is a lot better than ours. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

It’s not an easy thing to hold our day out to God with an open hand, letting him pour into it or take out of it what he wills.

Just remember, if you keep your fist tightly closed over your nicely laid plans, it hurts a lot more when God has to pry your fingers open.

I must confess that I don’t like having my little 'day plan' rearranged. I like to plan ahead. I like to know what I am going to do before I get out of bed, but I've found that time after time, when I let God order my day, he blesses it, and he brings to it a freshness that wouldn’t have been there if I had stubbornly resisted his changes.

 

Give your todays and tomorrows to God. Keep your hands open and your heart receptive.

 

 

If today is a gift from God, shouldn't we let Him choose how He wraps it? 

 

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years,

Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;

Each with its days I must fulfill,

living for self or in His will

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

C.T.Studd

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t fight it. Follow it.

Embrace the distractions and lean into them.

 

How often do you find yourself sitting down to pray, or in my case, lying in bed, wakeful, in the early hours of the morning, and you just can’t focus?

As you begin to pray, the anxiety, the swirling thoughts and all of life’s cares are so loud that your attention is diverted and your mind starts wandering.

You want to bring your requests before the Lord. You have the best of intentions, but you can’t keep your thoughts from jumping all over the place.

Can I help free you from the burden of feeling like you’ve failed?

I heard something recently that did just that for me.

This speaker said, when this happens, “Don’t fight it. Follow it.”

I know that this sounds backwards and wrong. But it has to do with our thinking.

We are led to believe that prayer needs to be this polished conversation, very eloquent, well-articulated and done in some type of orderly fashion.  

Now, don’t get me wrong, we are given examples of how to pray in the Bible, the most well-known is often called the Lord’s prayer (Luke 11) where the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. There is a lot to be said on this subject that cannot be covered in just one short post, so I will not go into it here and now.

We do need to address God reverently with awe and humility. But as you read through your Bible, you will see prayer after prayer that is prayed in such a raw, unfiltered, heartfelt and sincere way that I find it difficult to understand that anyone would think less of a person that simply pours their heart out to God in whatever words tumble from their lips wholeheartedly, genuinely and honestly.

Let me break this down. This is how it often goes.

When you set out to pray, whether in the night watches, at a prayer meeting or in your daily devotions, you begin to pray about one thing, but your mind suddenly pulls you towards something else.

You sit down to pray about your finances, but your mind starts drifting to the lady you spoke with on Sunday. You begin to pray about your health, but your mind drifts to your child and their lack of understanding of simple concepts in their Math homework that day. You start to pray about a workmate but your mind drifts towards a ministry in the church you are burdened about. You begin to pray about one thing, and your mind takes to you a totally different thing.

What do you do?

You pray about it.

If your prayer about your finances drifts towards the conversation with the lady on Sunday, then pray for her. Don’t fight the drift. Follow it. Pray for her.

If your prayer about your health drifts towards your child, then pray for them. Don’t fight it. Pray about it.

You get where I’m going with this?

What if the very thing that is distracting you is actually the very thing God is inviting you to pray about?

Don’t fight it. Follow it.

Even if it feels random. And unpolished. And out of order. Or small.

Did you know that prayer isn’t about performance? I have heard many prayers in my lifetime that were so eloquent and so well-articulated that they left me thinking that God would hear them above my own. They made my timid, humble mumblings seem insignificant to say the least.

I’ll say it again. It’s not about performance.

It’s about relationship.

The goal isn’t to speak perfect prayers or well-formed sentences. It’s not about perfection, it’s about presence.

The presence of God.

It’s about being in the presence of God. Coming to him, broken, hurting, needing the refreshing and renewal that only he can bring. Bringing our prayers of lament, or sorrow, or heartache, coming humbly before him and finding peace in his presence.

If God is laying something or someone on your heart and mind that is different than what you started out to pray for, then lean into it. Follow it.

I am easily distracted if I am not in my hyper-focused zone. This is most often the case for me when I’m praying. But even my distractions can lead me deeper in my relationship with God if I bring them to God.

As I pray, about everything and anything that comes to mind, I am exercising a muscle. A prayer muscle, if you will. The more I pray, the stronger my focus gets. It may not be where I thought it would go when I started praying, but the more consistent I am with praying through the distractions, offering prayer on behalf of the ones God brings to mind, as they come to mind, the more I exercise the muscle, the more passionate and sincere my prayers become.

As my mind begins to wander, I don’t fight the wandering, I tell God about it. I let him direct the prayer. I let him lead me to who and what I need to pray for.

If I start to pray with my list of requests in hand, and his love washes over me, causing me to pour out my heart in gratitude to him for his greatness and his goodness towards me, I go with it. I lay aside the requests and I continue my prayer of praise. I know that God will bring those requests back to mind when he is ready.

I know that this may seem weird and maybe a little way out there, but I really feel like somebody needs to hear this today.

Somebody reading this needs to experience the freedom that comes when you let God direct your prayers.

He wants the whole, distracted, messy you. Not some polished version of you that is only a façade.

Every one of us has people in our sphere of influence that are unique to anyone else. God will bring to mind people that in the place of prayer, we may see as random and an interruption to our planned-out prayer, but is actually an ordained, divine appointment.

Don’t fight those moments. Use them to intercede for others.

Let the distraction be an appointment.

Embrace it. Lean into it and most importantly, pray about it.

Philippians 4:6-8 - Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.