One day at a time!

 The other day I was talking to my father in law who is like a second dad to me, a mentor, a counselor, an encourager and many other things that he is to me and other people around him.

I was talking to him about my frustrations with my disease and how sometimes I want to fix it, but then I realize I can't, but God could. The question is: will He? And that, my friends, is a very loaded question. Only He knows what's best for me and I should rest in the fact that He's an all knowing God and that He will take care of me.

After listening to me worrying about what the future might hold in terms my disease, lovingly, and with a lot of wisdom, he told me: "You have to live one day at a time". Isn't that what Jesus told us in Matthew 6:34: “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own". This last phrase caught my attention: "Each day has enough trouble of its own". Each day that we live, life throws at us a lot of curve balls and sometimes more than we would like to handle. This is my thought: "If Jesus is telling us that each day has enough trouble, why would we even try to worry about what the next day might hold? One day has enough Jesus says. Enough means we have our hands full each and every day, with trouble, that is. If you let go of the trouble of today to handle a trouble that doesn't even  exist yet (of tomorrow), there's a great possibility that your handle of today's troubles might not be as precise as you want it to be. You no longer have a grasp of today because you're trying to handle a day that hasn't even happened and that, my friends, is a recipe for anxiety that is not necessary. This is a hard lesson for me to learn because, even though I try to do everything I can to stay positive, my Parkinsonian brain takes me places I don't want to be, that is, the anxiety zone. If I could only master that principle taught in Matthew 6:34, things would be a lot better. But, there's a context to this. Jesus says: "So do not worry...". This means there's some verses prior to these that give us reasons to not worry. Let's take a look!

Look at these expressions about God the Father in verses 26,30 and 32:

"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things".

Not only Jesus is teaching us that we as humans are more precious to him that any other creature on this earth, but he is also teaching us that God takes and will take care of us whatever our necessities might be  and that's why we don't need to worry. He does know that "we need all these things". But, there's a clause that we cannot refute. We must "seek the kingdom of God first and  all these things will be added on to you" (verse 33). In other words, we must put God first and in the midst of us doing His will, He will provide the things that we need because He's a just God. He will provide what we need, not what we want. That's probably the most intriguing thing on this passage. Notice Jesus mentions the basic things in life: food, drink and clothing. Are we happy with just that? I'm afraid most of us, if answered properly, we would say: "No, we're not happy".  But that's a lesson for another time. The point I want to make is that we need to live one day at time because worry will not change anything (verse 27). We shouldn't worry because God takes care of us every step of the way. We should not worry because, as we seek His kingdom, our focus will be on him and not our problems and, in the process, He will give us what we need. Living one day a time should be our goal. It would help us not to be so anxious all the time and it will also help us to do what God has ordained for us to do that specific day. Wouldn't it be wonderful to put into practice this simple lesson? It would save us a lot of anxiety and a lot of unnecessary trouble. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I must put into practice this teaching in my own life. It's not easy but I must try and I hope and pray that you would too. God bless you!