DAY 5: Living One Day At A Time (Part 1)

"Your strength shall be renewed day by day like morning dew." (Psalm 110:3)

One of my favourite movie scenes is Ben Stiller's pre-dinner prayer in the movie 'Meet the Parents'. He awkawrdly finished his prayer by saying, "May we see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly." And he added the tagline, "day by day by day by day." I almost fell out of the cinema seat! But what's really funny is that several months after watching the movie, I was reading a book titled Inner Compass and discovered Ben Stiller's prayer is a real prayer. It was originally written by Richard Chichester and is popular in Ignatian prayer circles. Of course, Stiller added an extra "day by day" to "day by day". I actually like Stiller's version better because it gives double emphasis to the "day by day" nature of our walk with Christ.

All laughter aside, there is a profound spiritual truth in that "day by day" tagline: we are designed to live one day at a time. "Day by day" is a biblical catchphrase. Nehemiah 9:19 says, "The pillar of cloud led them forward day by day." Psalm 110:3, "Your strength shall be renewed day by day like morning dew." Luke 11:3 says, "Give us day by day our daily bread." And 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, "Outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."

We are designed to live 'day by day." Jesus put it this way in Matthew 6:34. "Don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of you tomorrow. Live obe day at a time."

What does that have to do with transitions? The toughest thing about transitions is the fact that everything is up in the air. Transitions are full of uncertainity and uncertainity breeds anxiety. And if we aren't careful, we can start worrying about tomorrow and stop living today.

In his book, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Dale Carnegie tells a story about a medical student named William Osler. William was extremely anxious about his future graduating from school, starting a practice, making a living. He was working himself into a nervous breakdown when he came across the writings of Sir Thomas Carlyle. Thomas Carlyle wrote and William Osler read these words, "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand." Those words revoluntionized Osler's life. He stopped worrying and started living. William Osler went on to become the most famous physician of his generation. He organized the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and became Regis Professor of Medicine at Oxford. He was even knighted by the King of England.

In an address he gave at Yale University. Osler told the students that he owed his success to a simple principle. He called it "living in day-tight compartments." Osler said we need to let go of "dead yesterdays" and "unborn tomorrows." He said, "The load of tomorrow, added to that of yesterday, carried today, makes the strongest falter."

(Adapted from Pastor Guna Raman devotional "Managing Transition in a Downturn")