Created for Today
Do we know how important each of our todays truly is?
It’s so easy to keep looking way out into the distance to that far off goal. But today is the day we’ve been given to live. Today is why we were made. Today is a precious gift, as unique from any other day of your life as a snowflake is from any other. You will never be in the same as you are today.
When life gets messy, noisy, or tough, it tends to be our default setting to say, “This won’t last forever. It’s only a stage. Things will change soon.” All of this may be true, and the short term goal may be to survive to fight another day, but perhaps we also need to look this stage – the one we’re standing in the middle of – right in the face and say, “What can this stage teach me? How can I use this opposition (or blessing) as strength training? How can I use this as a stepladder to climb closer to God?”
Even the very hardest of all todays has a gift in it. Psalm 23:4 says, “Even when I walk through the darkest valley [some versions say “the valley of the shadow of death”], I will not be afraid, for You are close beside me.” In my experience, those darkest todays teach me the presence of the Shepherd unlike any of the brightest todays of my life. His comfort and peace show up the brightest and most precious in the darkest times.
In my ministry and line of work, I am given the opportunity to encourage and speak life into the hearts of my comrades in arms – other homeschool moms. Those who are choosing to rise and meet each dawn in determination to do something that the world tells them they can’t or shouldn’t do…raise and teach their own children. Many of these moms are choosing to use the pain and insecurity of their own pasts as stepping stools to get closer to God. I’ve personally spoken with so many courageous women, who choose to plant their feet firmly every today and make it count. Some of these incredible warriors are dealing with real trials, yet announce fearlessly in trembling voices, “Today is the day the LORD has made. I WILL rejoice and be glad in it!”
I couldn’t be prouder of each and every one of these heroines of the faith.
What they may not realize is this: every time they fall, pick themselves back up again, and set their face like a flint, they are becoming stronger – they are winning the day. Every time they choose to listen to the voice of their Creator calling them to take up arms and open the Word, they are being made more and more the oaks of righteousness that He grows from the ashes. Every time they bow their knee to the plans of God and leading of the Holy Spirit, they are lifted and honored in His eyes. Every time they study to learn the truth themselves, so they can in turn, teach it to the next generation, He takes note in His scroll of remembrance.
So, to all of you sweet mommas, the ones with the babies around your knees and on your hip, the ones with gangly teenage sons with cracking voices, the ones about to finish the task of raising those precious young ones placed in your care, God has been preparing you. You may not feel prepared for what you are facing, but yesterday has taught you a little of what you need for today, and today is teaching you what you need tomorrow. Don’t try to escape from or hurry the stage that you are in, for in it, are the tools you need to learn to use for the next stages coming toward you.
You were created for today. Becoming whole. Becoming new. Becoming what He has created you to be, today. It’s not the goal that is sanctifying, it is the process of living the todays of your life.
