01 Nov The gift of today – Nov 15

by Poppy Ivone

Today is not in hurry. It has time for you.

Today is available. Use it as you wish.

Today is a cup freshly filled with God’s grace. It is new every morning.

Today won’t last. It expires after 24 hours, just like all the days before it.

Today is crunch time. Use it or lose it.

Today won’t wait for you as you tarry and procrastinate.

Today is a fight, a duel, a challenge.

Today is designed to make you grow, painful as they are.

Today is the day you get up, shake it off and take that first step.

Today is precious. It might be your last.

Today is neither yesterday nor tomorrow.

Stop looking back. Stop worrying about the future. Be present in all you do.

You already had yesterday. You might not have tomorrow. But you have today.

Today is God’s gift for you. Use it well.

When I was a young stay-at-home mum of one child and ministering at church, I felt I did not have enough time. Then I became a mum of two and a TAFE student, not enough time. When my studies finished and were replaced by the rigors of part-time employment, even less enough time. Still I added a postgrad study, and find there’s never enough time. And now that I find myself carrying my third child on top of everything else, I cannot comprehend how I will ever have enough time. No matter what situation I find myself in,

I acutely feel 24 hours in a day does not suffice. Yet time is curiously elastic – it stretches to accommodate more and more.

Looking back on these challenging times, I mostly feel grateful for them. They forced me to grow. Because let’s be honest, left to our own devices, not many of us would willingly put ourself on the hard path of self-discipline and purposeful existence. If it were up to Esther, she probably wouldn’t want to be a Queen to a pagan King. If it were up to Joseph, he wouldn’t want to be sold as a slave. If it were up to us, at the end of a lifetime, we might find that we haven’t achieved much that we have wasted so much.

Thankfully God has a specific purpose and a plan for each of our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” So the next time God allows tough times into your life and you feel you are in over your head, stretched and pulled in all directions, spread too thin, remember this: Only He knows how you could best redeem this gift of a lifetime. Trust Him to break down your boundaries, enlarge your borders and expand your horizons.

Enjoy your gift of today!