“So, how are you doing?”
Sometimes that’s the only thing we can think to ask. Perhaps the issue is illness, grief, job loss, rebellious children (or parents) … I could go on and on. Sometimes the hits just keep on coming.
I’ve heard it said that you are either in a problem, just came out of a problem, or are just about to enter into a problem. (To keep going with my recent theme, we’ll call them “situations.”). Nobody, I MEAN NOBODY, gets a pass.
So, we’ve all either asked or have been asked the question, “So, how are you doing?”
A common answer: “We’re just trying to take it one day at a time.”
How else can you take it, really? We only GET one day at a time, even in the best of times. So, how can we take those words from cliche to foundational reality? I’m thinking of these words from the Bible:
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” (Lamentations 3:22-24, English Standard Version)
Many who grew up in church are familiar with the hymn based on that passage: “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” If you are unfamiliar with the book of Lamentations, you may think that this was obviously written by someone who has had an easy path. Certainly someone who could write about God’s faithfulness and His mercies being new every morning could not possibly understand the struggles that the rest of us face.
I’d like to remind you (and me) that those words come from a book called LAMENTATIONS! This is a book of the Bible composed entirely of expressions of grief in poetry and song. The author is grieving over the destruction of Jerusalem, the Hebrew people’s infidelity to God, and punishment at the hands of the Babylonians.
Note the verses immediately preceding the ones above:
“He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, ‘My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.’ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But [wait for it – emphasis mine] this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: (3:13-21)
This is not someone who has it easy. This is someone who knows that there is only one knot to hang onto at the end of the rope; someone who knows that his life matters to God no matter what it may feel like today.
One. Day. At. A. Time.
Question: How does “one day at a time” encourage you?
Leave a comment. I’d love to learn from your perspective.
