Minute Meditations

Robert Louis Stevenson once said ”Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall; anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day; anyone can live life sweetly, lovingly, patiently, purely, ’til the sun goes down.”

This harmonizes beautifully with the words of Christ who said, ”Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

One of the problems of mankind is the worry and frustration that occurs when we try to carry yesterday’s regrets and tomorrow’s fears with today’s load. It is more than one can bear and the hospitals are full of those who have tried it unsuccessfully.

Christ was a perfect example of one who devoted his all to the task before him, doing one thing at a time. He carried his load, however hard; each day but he could put it down and fall asleep even in the midst of a storm at sea. He lived sweetly and patiently each day. Jesus knew all the secrets for success. He was a perfect example of how to live. If we follow his example, we will cut up our lives into daytight compartments. We will not look into the future with fear and wonder how will we ever get through it. Instead, we will remember that a trip of a thousand miles must be made one step at a time.

We can only live one day at a time.To carry tomorrow’s load along with today’s is more than we can bear. To worry about yesterday’s only wastes today. The only day we will ever have to use for God is this one.

In a study of case histories by a group of physicians, who established worry as the greatest cause of illness, it was reported that worries fall into three categories. Forty per-cent of our worries are about the past, Fifty per-cent about the future, and only 10 per-cent about present matters.

This means we can eliminate 90 per-cent of all our worries by just living one day at a time.

Let us be wise and do our very best just for today. Let us not be concerned about the past because it is gone. We should ask God to forgive us for the mistakes we made and take comfort in the fact that He will forgive us if we truly repent. The words of Jesus addressed to a sinner are consoling. ”Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.” Today is ours. Let us live it unto the Lord. This is the Lord’s day, let us be glad and rejoice in it.

Since most of our worries concern the future, it is well to remember that most of our worries about it never materialize. Let us have faith in God for He never allows us to be tempted above that we are able to bear but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it. We cannot see the way of escape that God will provide tomorrow for it is too far away. Let us then thank God for this day and live it unto the Lord having faith that with a new day there will be new strength and God will provide the way of escape in His own good time.

Paul said, ’”This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Let us be wise, and as Paul, forget the things behind and do just one thing, not two or three, but just one thing at a time. The one important thing is to press toward the mark one day at a time.