How are you doing with all the uncertainties and unrest around us?
Many of us find our peace and patience running low. Nameless fears lace through every day and wake us in the night.
We tell ourselves I've always been good in a crisis. The only catch with that is that a crisis has a beginning and an end.
The situations playing out for us in the news and all around us promise to continue for a long stretch--and we know it.
That makes it worse.
How can we stay on track day-to-day?
Awhile back I ran across a yellowed newspaper clipping of a piece by long-ago columnist Frank Crane. Just reading the title took me back to when I was a young mother who struggled to keep up with the demands of our daily life.
Even so, I never missed reading a column titled, "Dr. Crane Says" in our daily newspaper because he spoke to my heart. I appreciated his practical advice and down-to-earth wisdom.
Every year or so the paper would feature his longer piece, "Just for Today" because year after year, it was his most-read column.
This piece made good sense to me then, even though it challenged me. It still does because truth never gets outdated.
Here it is in the original version:
Just for Today
Here are ten resolutions to make when you awake in the morning.
They are Just for One Day. Think of them not as a life task but as a day’s work.
These things will give you pleasure. Yet they require will power. You don’t need resolutions to do what is easy.
1. Just for Today, I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life-problem at once. I can do some things for twelve hours that would appall me if I felt I had to keep them up for a lifetime.
2. Just for Today, I will be Happy. This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that “most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Happiness is from Within; it is not a matter of Externals.
3. Just for Today, I will Adjust myself to what Is, and not try to Adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come, and fit myself to them.
4. Just for Today, I will take care of my Body. I will exercise it, care for it, and nourish it, and not abuse it nor neglect it; so that it will be a perfect machine for my will.
5. Just for Today, I will try to strengthen my mind, I will study. I will learn something useful, I will not be a mental loafer all day. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
6. Just for Today, I will exercise my Soul. In three ways, to wit:
(a) I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. If anybody knows of it, it will not count.
(b) I will do at least two things I don’t want to do, as William James suggests just for exercise.
(c) I will not show any one that my feelings are hurt. They may be hurt, but Today I will not show it.
7. Just for Today, I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with flattery, criticize not one bit nor find fault with anything, and not try to regulate nor improve anybody.
8. Just for Today, I will have a Programme. I will write down just what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I’ll have it. It will save me from the two pests Hurry and Indecision.
9. Just for Today, I will have a quiet half hour, all by myself, and relax. During this half hour, some time, I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective to my life.
10. Just for Today, I will be Unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to be Happy, to enjoy what is Beautiful, to love and to believe that those I love love me.
(Copyright, 1921 by Frank Crane)
One more thing ...
I never want to confine my thinking of God to only 30 minutes a day because he's not "out there" or "up there." Over and over He promises to be with us every minute of every day.
He is our loving God. Because he loved us enough to send his only Son (John 3:16) we're free to ask his help any time of the day or night. Period. Whenever we feel anxious and unsettled we can go to the Lord and let his peace quiet our hearts.
Long ago God spoke to his people through his prophet Elijah. His words still ring true for us today:
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
You and I are never alone. That's true even if we live alone. We can make it through whatever comes if we allow God's promises be our bottom line.
Trusting, too,
Lenore
