Today

Today I lived and breathed and it was enough because I did it for you.

How often do we climb in bed wondering why the hours were fast and we weren’t faster?  How often do we live for wishing there was more time to get the undone done?  Mr. “more hours in my day” has set up camp in our spirit and thus we run and done all day as if chasing the sun’s kiss on the moon.  The more I figure out God (and I’m a long way off in the annual membership “work-in-progress” tribe), the more I discover a day is plenty long enough because, whatever the day is, He gave me what I needed for it.  Not for my most, but for my best.  I may not fully agree or see it that plainly, but that doesn’t mean He didn’t do it smartly and sufficiently and do it lovingly for me.  The more I figure out God, the more I figure out I’m not right about a lot of things.  He is.  I don’t need to be a queen of quantity to have pulled success out of the day.  I don’t need to be on list probation if every item on the list isn’t taken care of by taco night.  I don’t need more hours in my day.  That’s a big deal to say and even bigger to admit.  Why?  I’m a woman and we never say (or agree) there doesn’t need to be more hours in our day, plus our self-guilt doesn’t allow us not being queens of quantity.  We drive on “most” instead of best a lot of the time because we think life needs us to.  We reel on crashing into bed announcing to the worlds in our head and all surrounding planet life that we needed a couple more hours to get it done.  We say this while crashing from running errands, being all things mom, wife, and person, tending to our needy patients, helping grow our students, and having just come from switching the wet load to the dryer so it can dry while we fall asleep and everyone can have clean underwear in the morning.  Guys, you’ve stretched the day longer too and it’s no less true in your spirit.  You should have nailed the meeting even better or made time to fix the faucet.  You should have logged one more report, added in one more patient, hammered one more nail, or made one more dollar than you did.  You never answered all your email, didn’t get all your lessons graded, and showed 10 minutes late to watch your kids game.  You climbed into bed feeling less man and more mass for yourself, family, or workplace.  In this day and age, teens stay up til 1 AM to pull more hours out of the day.  Where can they find more time to get all 8 classes studied and done with emphasis on some for next-day 40% of my grade tests?  How can they fit practicing with the team, logging enough driving hours, and getting their music rehearsal all done in the day?  Add in student meetings, friend gangs and hangs, family chores, social media pressure, and fast eat and run foods all added in to “more hours needed in my day.”   It’s hard.  It’s hectic.  And it’s here.  This isn’t a litany of pity or a throng of negativity.  It’s life on the go for many.  Most is louder than best, or so it feels.  Sometimes there’s unspeakable joy in the midst of it.  Sometimes there’s unspeakable stress at the end of it.  What’s the answer?  What’s the key to the run and done day?

Maybe we’re wrong.  Maybe God is right.  Days are perfect in their hour amount.  Maybe we’re not perfect in our outlook or plan through them.  Maybe I’ve got an attitude about life’s day.  I hope not, but I hang in admission when truth rings the possibility.  Maybe I’ve changed His day to mine.  Maybe I should change it back.  If you’re like me, you’re sitting there reading this and telling yourself you’re not sure how to change it back to your best or back to Jesus.  You’re thinking “I’m already doing my best with all my mosts and Jesus understands that.”  You’re not wrong.  We are doing our best.  We’re also wanting more hours in the day to do it.  We’re not content.  Life is still time consuming life and stuff is still undone stuff.  How does one change it back to better and best in Jesus?  I want to, but it’s hard when His momentum is from beautiful Heaven and mine is on bustling earth.  The two are quite different.  Are you that basic too?  Have you unbeautifully disconnected earth and heaven’s momentum too?  I love my Holy Jesus and wish I could live all day being blissfully His with praise music and green nature abounding at the park, but I’ve got all day to get done and there’s no chirping birds on my list of have-to’s today.  Attitude.  Outlook.  Not my best because of all my mosts.  My most isn’t my best dear reader.  I’m guessing neither is yours at times.  Jesus isn’t living in beautiful Heaven detached from bustling earth. He’s living because of you.  He’s living for you.  Are we connecting that?  And if so, are we living for Him too?

In the past couple weeks while mulling thoughts on a new blog and not sure what to zone in on or when to find time to hone my craft for Christ, I came across an every-day word one afternoon and instantly loved it.  It’s not a flashy or splashy word, I just saw it different.  It’s not an uncommon or unusual word, I just heard it better.  My eyes caught it for several minutes and I tilted my head as if I could think better in some kind of ponder pose.  You’ve done it.  You know.  I think this word is our new “best.”  I think this word is our new hook for hours well spent.  Today.  The word is “today.”

One TODAY Friday afternoon you died on a cross and it was enough because you did it for me.

One TODAY Sunday morning you rose again and it’s enough because you did it for me.

Every TODAY you’re taking care of me, understanding me, loving me because you made me best.

My TODAY is enough because I’ll do it for you, not time, not me.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help.  You’re right.  More hours in my day isn’t needed.  More Jesus in my hours is.  Take over whatever you need to in me.  I’m a busy girl, please help me pick the right busy for you.  You know better than me where to start and what to start with.  Take over whatever you need to in me.  Change me back to my best instead of my most.  Change my heart O God.  

Your Little Girl.

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”  2 Corinthians 9:8

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us”  Ephesians 3:20

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”   John 10:10