"Today is the first day of the rest of your life"
I remember embroidering those words on a fabric sampler when I was a young girl and I also remember being totally confused by that message. TODAY? REALLY?
Maybe I am simple-minded but I have always thought it would make much more sense to say
"Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life"
After all, today has already been partially lived, today is filled with mistakes and not nearly as productive as I anticipated it would be when I woke up. Now tomorrow, that's another story!
I just know that tomorrow would make a great beginning to the rest of my life! I will be energetic and productive; I will be kind and considerate; the path to success will show itself and I will follow it to a bright and happy future! Yes, tomorrow will be the first day of the rest of my life but today is just another day, filled with regrets and failure to live up to my own expectations. A lot like yesterday....and the day before......and the day before that....
Oh don't get me wrong there have been moments in those days when everything was going along great! The laundry was done, the family was fed, the dog had been walked, the birthday treats for school had been baked, even my hair was working for me!
But inevitably "today" carries with it an OOOPS or two........I forget to pick up my daughter from a brownie meeting, my patience wears thin and I blow up at my husband, I manage to drop and break one of my favorite dishes or I sabotage my diet with a huge bowl of ice cream; it could be the roof leaks or my car has a transmission failure....
Is this how I want the rest of my life to look? Surely I could do better than this.....or can I? Will tomorrow look any different from today? From yesterday or the day before?
The details may change regularly but the one thing all of these days (and the challenges they present) have in common is me. The same is true of tomorrow and all the days in my future. Good, bad or ugly this is my life and today is where it is being lived.
The reality is none of us will ever be perfect nor will any of us live a perfect life so instead of striving for perfection let's embrace our circumstances and stop waiting for tomorrow to begin living.
--Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Psalm 118:24
If your joy in life is missing and you are not happy with how you have been living then what better time to make some changes? Remember, "Today is where the change occurs in order for you to live a changed tomorrow!"
--Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51:12
--I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
John 15: 11
If you lack direction and don't know where to turn, stop right now and ask for directions, otherwise you may find you are even more lost tomorrow.
--In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9
Finally, we need to remember that we are never promised tomorrow. Today may be all we get, in which case we had better make the most of it!
"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:14
So today really is "The first day of the rest of my life" and that means I choose to stop waiting for tomorrow and start living today!!
Who would have known that a sampler could hold so much wisdom (and who would have guessed it would take me so long to figure it out?)
