[Thursday's Devotional] - Focus on one day at a time

Some of us who attended the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit last October will remember a speaker talking about identifying 'Today's 20 mile march'.  When a big change, large task or long journey faces us we are sometimes overwhelmed by the enormity of it all but in fact all we need to do is ensure we do 'today's 20 mile march'. We need to break down the task or journey into smaller, more manageable, amounts.

What is facing you today that feels like an impossibly large task?

This reminds me of the question 'how do eat an elephant?' Answer: one bite at a time!  The size of the task doesn't matter, what matters is that you commit to today's work on it and don't worry about tomorrow or the day after that and the day after that.

'Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own'.  Matthew 6:34 [NIV]

I love the realism in this statement by Jesus, it's a long way off from the kind of 'live for today' happy-go-lucky attitude we often hear expressed.  Jesus admits, 'yes, today might be tough and tomorrow might not be much better, but just get on with what you have to do today'.

Assuming everything is still on track with my bike ride, my task today will be the 52 miles between Earls Barton and Stratford-on-Avon.  One of the joys of this activity is that each individual mile can feel insignificant but when you look back you think 'my goodness, I've come a long way'.

Ask God to give you the strength for today's tasks and also give thanks for how far you've come.

Sheila Bridge