The slice of life we call today

[toad]

“Anyone can carry his burden, however heavy, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.”
Robert Louis Stevenson

“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalm 118:24 NASB

This morning I read the first two chapters of The Sermon on the Mount in the Life Recovery Bible. It is the New Living Translation. What I read is almost too much to digest in one setting. Oh, I can read the words and understand them, it’s just that there are so many principles or spiritual laws in the teaching that I find it hard to grasp in my heart all that is said. I find it easier to take one little morsel and chew it thoroughly before swallowing. Jesus starts off by teaching how to obtain the blessings of God. Then He informs that we as believers are the salt of the earth, the spice and preservative of all peoples. He also informs that as God’s agents, we carry God’s light and how we need to let it shine and not let it shine only amongst ourselves. Jesus then teaches about being obedient, about anger, adultery, divorce, about making promises to God, about revenge and loving our enemies, about giving to the less fortunate, about prayer, about money and our material goods, and about living life one day at a time. Of all of Jesus’ teachings, the one about living life one day at a time has been a great influence in my daily walk with the Lord. That’s all I have is a daily walk with the Lord. I have hope for eternity, but the here and now is where I live, and the here and now determines my eternity. Living life daily is so simple that I was confused by it. I knew years ago in my youth that I could not handle alcohol and drugs. I set out many times to quit, and not do them ever again, only to recover just enough, and to feel good enough to try them again. My problem was I was quitting forever, and that was not where I was living. I was living in today, the here and now. Only after I realized that in living life one day at a time, and just staying sober one day at a time, was I able have continuity in my sobriety, which also gave me continuity in my walk with the Lord. You see alcohol and drugs separated me from God. It’s not that God was distant from me, it’s that I, through my self-centeredness was distant from God. Jesus summed up living one day at a time by saying, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:34 NLT) Jesus did not say to not be concerned about tomorrow, but not to worry about tomorrow. Today I try and not worry about tomorrow. I try and do the best I can today, stay sober, help others, and give God thanks. I am not perfect at living life this way, but I claim progress, not perfection. Thanks for letting me share, God continues to do for me what I could not do for myself…………….JRE

It is easy to slip back into worrying about tomorrow, dwelling on the “what ifs” and the “if onlys.” Each day brings a host of things we cannot change; there will always be circumstances beyond our control. We must also face the reality of who we are, human beings confined within the slice of life we call today. It is tempting to deny the present, but escaping reality is part of the insanity of our addictive way of life………..
We need to ask our self at every turn in life, Am I accepting this present moment, or am I pretending, trying to escape into the past or the future? Each day there is something to find joy in, and there is strength promised for the troubles of that day.
The Life Recovery Bible, page 1123

“What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all our activities.” Alcoholics Anonymous, page 85

[ndgrace]

Toad,
Amen, we make life so much more difficult than it has to be. God does not walk away from us, it is us that walk away from Him! Staying in the word has been such a big help in convicting me that my behavior was not Godly! Each day sober is a gift from God, to Him be the glory!