Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 1-152 (Practical Christian Living)

YESTERDAY, TODAY and TOMORROW

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone beyond recall.

The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise, and perhaps its poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow’s sun will rise, either in splendour or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is as yet unborn.

This leaves only one day — today.

Anyone can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burden of those two awful eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, that we break down. It is not the experience of today that drives us mad. It is the remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday or the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore do our best to live but one day at a time.

One today is worth two tomorrows. Eventually one comes to realize that their past isn’t going to get any better.

PASTORAL PRAYER (Knox Baptist Church)

Thanks, for waking us to the sound of rain, the sweet fragrance of a wet garden, the dry earth drinking in replenishment. Your blessing poured out on our land…

Thank you for all the simple pleasures that we enjoy –

* A mug of steaming coffee, warming cold hands;

* A warm bed, embracing our drowsy beings in sleep, reluctantly yielding us up to the new morning;

* Hot water streaming over our shoulders in the shower;

* The aroma of a hot dinner, promising savour to our mouths and satisfaction to our tummies;

* The laughter of children, squealing with delight over things that we have grown too sophisticated to enjoy;

* The security of home…

While we should be deliriously happy with all that we have, we carry anxieties in our hearts, things that preoccupy us and numb us to the pleasures we have – Its like holding a flower, and over time watching it wither.

What is the withered flower you are holding? Should we despair at its withering, or rejoice in the beauty and fragrance once enjoyed? Thank you for the beauty and fragrance we have enjoyed and remember…

* We offer the withered stem back to its creator,

* We trust that new seasons bring new flowers

* We pray for those for whom life’s withered flowers seem overwhelming

* We pray for those whose lives seem to have never had flowers in bloom

* Thankyou God for all the pleasures we have experienced, the beautiful blooms we have held We trust you with our future, knowing that your faithfulness in the past is our guarantee of your faithfulness always.

Shalom! Rowland Croucher >