One Day AT A Time

One Day at a Time

Life comes to us in such little bits

(J.R. Miller)

"Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

"As your days--so shall your strength be." Deuteronomy 33:25

We should be thankful that life comes to us in such little bits.

We can always live one day well enough.

We can always carry one day's burdens.

We can always do one day's duties.

We can always endure one day's sorrows.

It is a blessing that one day is all that God ever gives us at a time. We should be thankful for the nights that cut off our tomorrows from our view, so that we cannot even see them until they dawn. The little days, nestling between the nights like quiet valleys between the hills, then seem so safe and peaceful.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own!" Matthew 6:34

"Show me the stairway I have to climb

Lord for my sake, help me to take

One day at a time

One day at a time sweet Jesus

That's all I'm askin' of you

Just give me the strength

To do every day what I have to do

Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus

And tomorrow may never be mine

Lord, help me today, show me the way

One day at a time"

-One Day at a Time hymn

               The sighted person knows that night only lasts so long. Light, like joy, comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).  For your writer who has been in the darkness (blindness) for such a long night (50 years), my joy comes when I realize that one day I will bask in eternal light. 

               One never has a nervous breakdown from the events of yesterday or today, anxiety leading to neurosis (nervous breakdown) only comes from thoughts of tomorrow. Today, is tomorrow that never came AND many of us will never have a tomorrow to worry about. When you put your socks on in the morning, the mortician may take them off at night. Our long suffering Lord (Jesus and his disciples owned nothing-did not have a bed or house, "And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air [have] nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay [his] head ((Matthew 8:16)). But he assured us that Solomon in all his glory did not have as much as the true child of God. In the "Think and Grow Rich" world, with its Madison Avenue techniques of prosperity, it is hard for the ambitious mind not to compete. After all, the Christian likes nice things too....houses, cars, clothes, vacations, tasty food BUT, our ambition is Heavenward. This writer has little patience with preachers-pastors who are caught up with high living. I am totally sickened by the opulent lifestyle of the Kenneth Copeland's, Benny Hinn's, Shuler families (Chrystal Cathedral, they have now run the old preacher and most of his children through the pulpit) lifestyles. We want our Christian ministers and ministries to look good (clothing, vehicles, houses) but not for the shepherd to live better than the sheep. This prosperity gospel is a bunch of nonsense. This seed faith planting, promoted by certain radio and television preachers, is a matter of conjecture. I firmly believe that you can not out give God but God's response to our giving is his business. He has his reasons for keeping some of us where he wants us. 

               Just as with Christian separation, I firmly believe in Christian preparation. Always, without fail, he provides our needs for the day, "...As thy days, [so shall] thy strength [be] (Deuteronomy 33:25).  The older I get, the more I marvel and praise God for the grace by faith shown by my parents, grandparents, ancestors. Just think what life was like in the early years of this republic. Does it bother you that today's young people, with all the blessings of technology and privilege, are letting it go so easily? 

               We do what we do because we believe what we believe. When we believe that God will take care of us, "one day at a time", there is much less anxiety-stress-depression, the greatest illness of the nation. (National Institute of Mental Health: 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older suffer from depression— about one in four adults.)