Seize the Day

I think I found something harder to do than waiting.  Well, it’s kind of a close relative to waiting.  But it’s the annoying relative that no one likes to think about or invite to things. 

Back in November, I was given a daily devotional called “Jesus Calling” by some good friends of mine.  The tag line for this book is: Enjoying peace in His presence.  So every morning, I read a little blurb about just that.  And I have to say, this thing is golden.  Especially this week.  Now, I don’t know if Jesus is really Calling me through these pages, but every morning I find advice on how to deal with that day’s challenges.

One point the book (or Jesus…since it’s written as if Jesus is talking to you) tries to make is that peace of mind is largely dependent on the ability to treat each day as just a day.  It discourages thinking about the future, planning ahead, or saying things like, “what’s going to happen in a year?”  And being a girl, I am horribly guilty of all those things.  It is extremely difficult for me not to think beyond the day.  I have to plan ahead.  I have to be prepared.  I have to know what’s going to happen.  And then I get this book telling me that Godly peace comes from living moment by moment.  Thanks.

The book said something a few months ago that really stuck with me.  It said to view each day as something that God has already pre-planned and laid before you; not as a series of tasks or hours that I “just need to get through.”  When we think about each 24-hour span in the former, we learn to find the blessings that God has hidden in each day.  The book even goes as far as to say that we should treat each day as an adventure, embracing the unexpected.  And I’ll admit, when the day happens to escape routine I do feel the sense of adventure.  But most of the time, I live each day worrying about the next.  You know that verse “Don’t worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about itself (Matt. 6:34)”?  I have no idea what that means.

The other day, as I rode the metro home, I was staring out my window when the metro left the tunnel and came to the outdoor piece of the track.  So in an instant, the scene outside your window goes from black-nothingness to blue skies, trees, and sun.  And I couldn’t help envying the trees.  There they were, soaking up the sun and the blue skies.  Not moving, not doing anything.  They were big and serene and wonderful.  And that’s when I thought, “those trees probably never worry about tomorrow.”  It doesn’t matter if they have leaves or don’t, if their leaves are falling off or growing back; they’re still there and they don’t think about the future at all.  It reminded me of Luke 12:22-31.

Unfortunately, like waiting, I don’t know how to learn this lesson quickly.  I just know it’s a lesson to learn.  I’m hoping that’s enough for God.  And I’m hoping that He would give me His grace to make it the rest of the way.