A dear friend of mine bought a house a couple of weeks ago.
We’ve been friends for as long as I can remember and we’ve discussed far lesser things in detail so you can imagine how many times my phone rang in the days leading upto the house warming prayer. She and her husband put a lot of thought into the food, decor, return gifts and guest list. She spent weeks carefully mulling over the people she wanted to invite and the pastors she wanted to lead the prayer. As she and her husband went through the guest list, she came across some members in her husband’s family who didn’t bring out the best in her.
She’d shared with me certain issues about them that bothered her. They didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things and she didn’t want them there on the day of the house warming prayer. Needless to say, her husband was a bit upset when she made the declaration. He tried to coax her into forgiving them but she said she’d do so after the house warming prayer. He tried to reason with her but she was too hurt to relent. She didn’t want them there and that was that. This led to a few choice words being exchanged between my friend and her husband. Finally, against her wishes, bowing to the familial pressure, she grudgingly extended an invitation to them and hoped against hope that they would decline.
On the day of the prayer, my friend called me, sounding rather upset. It turned out that the very relatives that she was dreading would come had called to let her know that they could not be at the prayer. Turns out, they had to decline because they’d previously promised to attend something else at that time, in response to an earlier invitation.
My friend said that she immediately felt sweet relief wash over her. After professing the appropriate amount of regret to them over the phone, she hung up. Almost immediately, the still, small voice in her heart grew loud.
“Why do you gloat over a missed opportunity? You claim to be a Christian but you cannot forgive people in your own family who have done so little to wrong you. You will never again get the chance to invite them to the house warming of the first home you bought. The chance you lost is lost forever. Today will never come back.”
My friend was deeply convicted. She called them back and this time, sincerely let them know that she was sorry they couldn’t make it and asked them to try their best to join – even if it was going to be late.
There is great truth in the words that convicted my friend. We will never again get a chance to live out today. Today is the perfect sized package to tackle. If you are anything like me, the mere thought of measuring your life in seasons and years can be overwhelming. Instead, when taken a day at a time, it feels way more practical and manageable. I need not think about all I want to be and everything I have to face in the next ten years. I simply think about all I have to do today.
Little things truly make a difference. It is foolishness to assume that I will be someone in ten years when I am not aspiring towards that today. If you want to see yourself being completely sold out for Christ, the most important day in your life is today – and every single day that follows. I can certainly take steps today that steadily leads me to being more Christlike. I can speak a little less. I can do a little more. I can love a bit harder and let go of a grudge. I can repent of my anger and ask for more grace. I can be kinder to those around me and not take my anger out on the helpless. All of this I can do today. I can die to myself a little more with each passing day until Christ shines through the cracks that I impose on myself.
It is all too easy to desire change – it is far harder to practice it. To humble yourself is far more difficult than thinking you are a humble person. It is far harder to love someone in a practical way than making yourself believe that you are a loving person in general. All this I can do today – and today is the best time there is for me to come face-to-face with my weaknesses. In the words of Mary Slessor, “Christ never was in a hurry. There was no rushing forward, no anticipating, no fretting over what might be. Each day’s duties were done as each day brought them, and the rest was left with God.” We might feel tempted to imagine that there weren’t many distractions during the time of Christ’s life on Earth but know for certain that every age and time in history brought with it it’s own set of distractions and challenges. In the words of a man who lived over a thousand years before Christ was born into the world, “there is nothing new under the sun”. John Piper puts it this way – “Don’t be surprised. There is nothing new under the sun. Only endless repackagings.”
When we begin to taste life in day sized bites, we realise just how much of it we let go to waste. Last week, a dear friend of mine sent a text message in a common group asking us girls to check out an app called ‘Opal’. Supposedly, it helps prevent wasting time on mindless scrolling by restricting your access to the apps on your phone after a certain time period. Intrigued, I was prompted to do a little research on the average screen time in India. Would you believe that the average screen time is 6 hours and 38 minutes per day? That means 106 days in a year is spent staring at a screen. If you live to be 80, you’d have spent more than 17 years looking down at your phone if you started using your phone when you were 20! We are the first generation in peril of amusing ourselves to death!
Careful, dear child of God! Regret is one of the hardest emotions to deal with. Regretting the time lost on frivolous pursuits is particularly costly for the believer. There is simply no way to gain lost time and no way to rectify the waste of each day gone by.
Dear Lord, may the sun find me waiting for you. Help me to be responsible in the small, day-to-day. Help me to be faithful in the pockets of time during the day when I find myself “free”. I don’t want to be frivolous in my use of time. I want to be wise and use the time graciously given me to grow in you. I know that I was made for you. Help me to live like I truly believe it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
2 comments
What a practical way to bless us ( the readers) by putting your God given talent at work! You have such an ability to convey truth in a simple yet powerful way and to challenge the readers to take actions! Glad you found again time to write. I was blessed by every one of your writing. Hope you and your family are doing well, Eva dear.
Oh Daniela, you haven’t changed one bit – always so encouraging! Thank you so much for your kind words. Much love to the family.