Day by Day
The joy of anticipating small, simple pleasures
Tomorrow … next week … next month …
My friend’s anticipation was palpable as she sat down in my office and relayed her upcoming plans.
In the languor of a workday afternoon, dreaming of next week’s trip to the beach and this fall’s luxurious cruise seemed a welcome diversion. So I joined in, mentally cataloging my most anticipated future events: the concert by my favorite rocker next week; my East Coast trip next month; my birthday the following month; my boyfriend’s birthday several weeks later; finally, the holidays.
“I enjoy looking forward to these things,” my friend concluded. “But it rushes life.”
Then I counted. Just less than half the year left—approximately 180 days—and I wanted to leapfrog to only 5 of them.
“One day at a time,” I remembered my dad’s refrain during his successful journey through cancer more than a decade ago. The philosophy had seemed wise. For we hadn’t known if lurking ahead was a CT scan showing still-swollen cancerous lymph nodes. Or a bone marrow transplant, debilitating and possibly ineffective. Or a funeral drenched in untimely tears.
Best to slowly savor each day, however difficult. And if presence in the moment was prudent in such a bad situation, how much more so in a good—or, at least, neutral—one. Life went fast enough without my pushing on to the next day.
And tomorrow, Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, wasn’t to occupy my mind anyhow. I’d always assumed that “lilies of the field” passage referred to worry; the NIV translates it as such. But in the old King James of my fundamentalist childhood, the word is thought: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow” (Matthew 6:34). Perhaps I shouldn’t have been thinking of the next day at all, whether to fear potential troubles or to anticipate exciting plans.
Perhaps I should have been fully engaged in today. After all, God is the Creator of this earthly time unit (Genesis 1:5). He even dispenses his mercy according to the sun’s rounds (Lamentations 3:23). It’s new every morning—not every week or every month or every season. “This is the day which the Lord hath made,” the Psalmist exclaims; “we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24, italics mine). Not in tomorrow. Not in my upcoming vacation. But in this day. How much more constant my joy if my anticipation were to extend to the blessings of only the next 24 hours!
So the next morning, I made a mental list of my most anticipated events … of the day. It held no rock concert, no airplane flight. I had to look for smaller, simpler delights. And in the narrowing of my anticipation, my appreciation broadened.
Every moment offered something. I looked forward to a warm shower, a sweet bowl of cereal, a new makeup shade, a favorite outfit, a peaceful drive to work, a browse through my inbox, a completion of a difficult project, a buttery baked potato during my lunch hour in a nearby park, a mid-afternoon vending machine indulgence, a catch-up conversation with a coworker, a new video rental, a home-cooked meal of honeyed tofu and sticky brown rice, a calm moment of washing dishes, an evening chat with my neighbor, another page of reading in my travel memoir, a bite of brownie with a spoonful of coffee ice cream, a laugh from a late-night talk show, a phone call from my mom, a chorus of birds preparing for rest, a breeze through my bedroom window as I lay down to sleep.
And the next day … and the next … and the next … I once again anticipated today.
Blessings,
How do you remain present in the moment? What simple pleasures do you anticipate each day?
Posted at 4:28 PM on July 14, 2008.
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Comments
Oh that's a lovely piece of writing - definitely something I'll take on board - in fact I might even start that gratitude journal! Thank you x
Posted by: Lawsy on July 17, 2008
thanks for the reminder. its so easy to get caught up in the overall scheme of things that we forget each day is unique in its own right, and a unit of time which can never be recovered.
Posted by: Lydia on July 17, 2008
This is the second time today that someone has reminded me to enjoy the day. The first was a cut-and-paste of one of Rick Warren's daily devotionals. It referred to how much God enjoys our enjoyment of all the "today" things, the simple pleasures of life now. We're always in a hurry to get somewhere and to get to something that has no guarantee of ever being. That anticipation, or fear, as you so correctly wrote, robs us of the joys and experiences of now—which we DO have.
As one who lives tomorrow, next week, and next month before it comes, and in spite of the fact that it might not come, I am grateful for your reminder.
Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of today.
Posted by: Lynda Schultz on July 18, 2008
Thank you Andrea, its so easy to get distracted from the daily pleasures. God is in the present WITH ME NOW! I love your writing, its full of practical observations and valuable heart-felt thoughts.
Posted by: Pam on July 18, 2008
iv,e done exactly that every day since my husband died. appreciate every minute and everything will come in time.
Posted by: malibu on July 19, 2008
This is a lovely writing. It's nice to take in the simple pleasures of the day, and not have to feel like you lost all the days between Monday and Friday evening. We don't need big events or outstanding appointments to make life worth living. Thanks Andrea, for the reminder to keep our eyes looking up!
Posted by: Cheri on July 19, 2008
ouch!! I just got zinged. That's what I call it when something I read or think or pray stimulates the Holy Spirit to remind me that God's truth is always the truth.
I so looked forward to retirement and it is here. Nothing I planned worked out. Instead the Lord gave me other work to do. Your blog reminded me that each day is full of His blessings and assignments and tomorrow may never come. Or if it does, it may look different than imagined. So I have new surprises - some wonderful and some stressful but He helps me through each day, one day at a time!
Posted by: Sally Knower on July 19, 2008
During a period when I was on "stress leave" from work, I had time to revisit Scripture on a level I had not...ever. One of the fundamental truths in our relationship to God became clear to me. I first ran across it in the story of the Manna. The children of Israel were to collect only enough for that day...and no more. Some, like me, rushed out to get as much as possible, to "get while the gettin's good". But over night, it spoiled. That is, except on Friday nights. Then they were Supposed To collect two days worth, so they could avoid working on the Sabbath. And the Manna kept over night! I asked myself what God was up to here. Clearly, it wasn't that Manna was perishable. The implicit message was that God simply wanted his children to Trust Him. To trust that if they only took enough for Today, God would show up again tomorrow.
I traced this theme through a thousand pages to the place where Jesus states it explicilty: Live Today, and trust God with your tomorrows. I put down my Bible, amazed to realise that in spite of the fact I called myself a Christian -- a Christ follower -- I had not been living His principal for peace. It was so simple. And yet I had not really been trusting God to show up again tomorrow. Since that discovery, I have committed my tomorrows to Him: He will show up again tomorrow. Leave it with Him. I have since gone back to work in a completely new way...with a peace that I can't really explain. I guess it's the peace, Paul says, that passes understanding.
Posted by: J on July 19, 2008
thanks for this blog. I definately live for the vacations and "big things" and get discouraged by the day to day...because I can't have "vacation" all the time. Thanks for giving me a new perspective to think about and dwell on.
Posted by: michele on July 20, 2008
It is a lovely comment, however, let's also keep things in balance... many a person has willed themselves to live longer because of the anticipation of a new grandbaby, dealt with a painful divorce in chaos-free rhetoric becasue they did not want their children to one day think less of the other parent, or dealt with the void of a lack of romance by holding on to the promise that God has stated that two are better then one.
Posted by: Vera on July 20, 2008
Andrea,
This is so perfect for me right now. For all of the procrastinators out there this is a must read. Certainly a reminder to use all of our moments wisely whether it is a time to work or play.
Here I am in the midst of a early Sunday afternoon already thinking and worrying about the week ahead. What a great reminder to just enjoy the remainder of the weekend!
Posted by: Karen on July 20, 2008
God is in the 'now moments' of our lives...He is all around and even closer when we grow quiet.
I vow to make it my daily journey to seek out, savour, find healing, promises and miracles in the 'NOW' and will use it to lead me into the future.
Posted by: PhoeBE on July 20, 2008
Thanks for reminding us about the importance of savoring each day -- living today, this moment, each moment consciously in God's presence!
Posted by: Victoria Hvostik on July 20, 2008
As I sat here pondering what to talk with our youth group about this Saturday, I came across this article. Thank you so much for being God's voice to call me back to today! I am a full time Hospice nurse, A full time college student, a full time mother and a full time wife. In my spare time,(ha ha!) I teach Sunday School and I am the Youth Leader at our church, and once a month, I am also the church secretary for our business meetings. I am easily consumed by what I need to do tomorrow instead of what I should be doing today! Thanks again, for keeping like the "lillies"
Posted by: Cheryl Walls on July 24, 2008
Thanks! Yes, we have to seize the day - enjoy and celebrate every moment! (Ecclesiastes) In fact, each day or rather each moment is a gift from God. Thus we have to live each day to the fullest and attempt to make it the best day or moment in our lives... God bless us as we turn our visions and dreams or even wishes in our wish lists to actions in order to transform the world where we are or may be... Praise the Lord!
Posted by: Judy Berinai on July 27, 2008
I HAVE BEEN GOING THRU A DRY SPELL . I WAS SO GLAD TO READ THIS. IT HELPED ME TO THINK ON THE BLESSINGS OF THE DAY. TO FOCUS MORE ON THE DAILY THINGS, AND NOT STRESS ABOUT THE THINGS I CAN'T CONTROL. I'M SO GLAD I CAME ACROSS THIS SITE. THANK YOU.
SHIRLEY
Posted by: shirley on August 4, 2008