We don’t think about today very much. Often, today is something that we need to get through…….so that we can get on to tomorrow. Tomorrow seems to be when the important stuff is going to happen.
There’s nothing wrong with planning ahead…… Proverbs encourages it.
But we need to keep tomorrow in perspective. The place where we live……..is today. As I get older……closer to the end……..I find that I am developing a more intimate relationship with today. I spend a lot less time thinking about…….worrying about…… tomorrow.
The tension between today and tomorrow has even crept into my prayer life. I’ve noticed that my prayers have developed a focus on the long term.
I pray for a Christian government……..in the next election or so.
I pray for an end to abortion……… when the supreme court shifts to the right……hopefully in my lifetime.
I pray for healing from cancer for family and friends…….over the next decade.
This is very practical. If I miss a day……no biggie. Last week’s prayer should be good for a while. Also, if nothing improves in the next 24 hours, it’s not a problem. In a way I’m saying to God…….”take your time”…….for now….. I’ve got this under control.
But do I really have things under control? A quick look around suggests that things are not going well.
So ……..I am shifting the focus of my prayers…….my “to do list” for God. I am going to spend more time on praying for today.
Please guide our leaders (Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, and McConnell)………today.
Please convince one woman with an unwanted pregnancy to let her child live…….. today.
Please destroy Cindy’s cancer…….today.
This is interesting.
In a way, this increases the urgency of the prayer…….the immediacy of the prayer. These “today” prayers expire. They are good for one day. If I miss a day……I’m not covered.
If I miss a day………I’m on my own…….and that is a scary place.
In addition, there is a side effect. My “today” prayer brings my relationship……my dependence……..on God into focus. Instead of firing off a list of long term objectives……sort of a 5 year plan for God, I am depending on God to get me through the next 24 hours.
And this is the correct posture for a 68 year old man in relation to the creator of the universe.
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Jesus, NIV