One Day At A Time

It continually amazes me when I take the time to listen and be aware of the Divine presence in my life.  God communicates with me through reading, through other people, through small whispers and through songs that randomly jump in my head.  For the last several months God has bathed me in the admonition to be still and wait.  The message has shifted over the last few weeks to one of "One day at a time."  A lady greeted me as we left the church building a few weeks ago asking that I pray for her to know what God wants her to do with her life and how she can serve God.  I looked at her and said let's start with this:  Tomorrow morning wake up and ask God what God wants you to do with that day.  I told her that she didn't have to have her whole life figured out.  Later in the week it dawned on me that the message God had given me for her was also a message God had given me for myself. 

Yesterday, I realized I had been singing the chorus of a song over and over in my head for the better part of a two hour drive that I had after seeing my son.  I had not turned on the radio.  I had not turned on my book to listen to.  I was lost for two hours in my thoughts and in this song that kept repeating in my head.  It dawned on me that it was an old Christy Lane song that my mother used to sing in church when I was a young girl.  You might guess that the title of the song is "One Day At A Time." 

The words: 

"One Day at a time Sweet Jesus.  That's all I'm asking from 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. " 

My scripture reading today was from the famous portion of scripture that contains Jeremiah 29:11 "I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future."  These are certainly encouraging words but people neglect to understand the context of this verse and the verse that comes right before it.  Jeremiah is writing these words to the Israelites who are exiled to Babylon and are suffering.  The verse right before this famous verse states that only after 70 years will God rescue them from their exile.  Yes there is hope.  Yes God will and did rescue them.  Yes they did return from exile.....70 years later.  By then some of them had likely died.  You see this promise was a promise of God's presence to a community of people.  This promise was a promise of victory.  It was not a promise of victory without pain.  It was not a promise of victory without suffering and grief.  It was a promise of God's presence and God's control over the final outcomes of life. 

In the last two months I have watched two friends suffer tremendous loss and I have been following their journey of grief via Facebook.  One of them quoted the portion of scripture where Jesus is in the garden praying about his upcoming crucifixion.  

³⁸ Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” ³⁹ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” Matthew 26:38-39.  (NRSV)

I had never let it sink in the depth of the grief Jesus was experiencing.  I never let it sink in the loneliness he felt in his grief when he found the disciples sleeping.  It was not until I read this from the point of view of a grieving mother that the power of these two verses really sank in.  Jesus, our Savior, our Lord, felt the same kind of grief that we feel and his response was to turn it over to God's hands and to trust God with the ultimate outcome.   

So, I hear God telling me One Day at a Time and I pray the prayer the Psalmist of Psalm 63 prayed:

O God, you are my God, I seek you,
    my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
    as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
² So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
    beholding your power and glory.
³ Because your steadfast love is better than life,
    my lips will praise you.
⁴ So I will bless you as long as I live;
    I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

⁵ My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,^[a]
    and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
⁶ when I think of you on my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
⁷ for you have been my help,
    and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
⁸ My soul clings to you;
    your right hand upholds me  Psalm 63:1-8