Wake Up, Today Awaits You

There’s a line in this book I’ve been reading called Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist that has changed my life. She concludes her chapter “On Waiting” by saying this profound phrase:

“You are more than dust and bones.
You are spirit and power and image of God.
And you have been given Today.”

That last sentence really hit home for me, and more recently it has been stirring within my heart. We have been given Today. It’s fascinating to think about how waking up to a new day, every day, is so expected. I am guilty of going through my weeks feeling as if I were owed this life and that I have somehow “earned” tomorrow, so I expect it. This is another societal misconception that so many of us have fallen victim to. Scripture tells us something unique about “tomorrow."

In James 4:13-15 we read,

“Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”

Here we see that tomorrow is not promised; therefore, when we wake up to a new day, we should realize that it is a gift from God. Now, this is something I am struggling through in the current season I am in. If in fact each day has been given to me, then why am I not living as if it were? Why am I complaining about sitting in traffic on my morning drive to work? Why do I get frustrated that I don’t have "this or that"? Why am I comparing my life to that person's life? I have been given Today by God. My actions should reflect that I am blessed rather than as if I’ve been somehow condemned.

Here’s the kicker: God did not just give us Today, He actually wants us to do something with it, and He wants us to glorify Him in all that we do. I think that is a pretty awesome trade off, don’t you? God has equipped and gifted us with talents and passions, and He wants us to use every day that He chooses to give to us to do something with them! I truly believe that if we choose to wake up every day with the perspective that today was given to us by God and challenge ourselves to live as if we actually believed that, then this world would be such a better place.

Brothers and sisters, I ask you to join me in this daily challenge: how will we choose to make the most of this gift that is Today? I pray that God would be glorified in each of us as we seek to make the most of this precious gift that is called life.

Wake up, -- Today awaits you.

Keep Fighting the Good Fight,
Brenda