DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE YOU’RE RUSHING THROUGH THE HOURS OF THE DAY, as if they were of no real consequence? Perhaps you’re spending too much time thinking back to “the good old days” (or the not-so-good old days)—or looking ahead too anxiously to an uncertain future. To live this way is to risk missing out on today—the best time we have to influence family, friends, strangers; the best time we have to help shape a better world.

Looking back has its value. We can learn from the past, change our attitudes toward it, use our understanding of it to help fashion the way we think and act today. But the past itself is gone. It can’t be relived or rewritten. Concern for the future has a place, too. We can—and should—set goals and make plans that will help guide the way we act today. But the future will come whether we worry about it or anticipate it. And it will probably be different from what we expected.

So don’t let past memories or future dreams crowd out the present. Don’t miss today.

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“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

—Psalm 118:24

Learning from the Past

“We ought not to look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dear-bought experience.”

—George Washington

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John Wacker is an example of the dire consequences of careless driving. He speaks with difficulty, is blind in one eye, suffers from partial paralysis, and walks with a cane—all the result of an accident in which he was thrown from a speeding car. Despite all this, Wacker chooses to make a difference for others. Teacher Mike McDonald describes Wacker’s presence in the driver education classes at Seattle, Washington’s Ballard High School as “a gift of immeasurable value.” Wacker visits the classes regularly and asks youngsters, “How many of you would like to trade places with me?” No hands go up.

In his memoir Where Have I Been?, the late comedian Sid Caesar described his life as an abuser of pills and alcohol. He struggled to overcome those habits and went on to become an in-demand spokesman on the dangers of such abuse. Part of his problem, he wrote, was that “drunks think backward; they have no future and can’t cope with the present.” By living in the past of both his “glory years” and “dark years,” he was avoiding his insecurities. He found recovery once he approached his life as “a continuing process—taking positive steps to get through that one hour and one day at a time.”

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“Trust in Him at all times, O People; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” —Psalm 62:8

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How to Live for Today?

“Don’t waste life in doubt and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours or ages that follow it.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

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As a law student and then an attorney, Robert Hayes passed homeless street people each day on his way to and from classes and work in New York. “I believed the myth that the homeless do not want help, that they are living on the streets by choice,” he recalled. “But simply by talking to folks, I found out how wrong that was. I had to do something.” He made the cause of the homeless his own and waged a successful three-year battle to force the city to provide more shelters for them. He also founded the nationwide Coalition for the Homeless to promote alternatives to life on the streets.

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“Happy the man, and happy he alone He who can call today his own;
He who, secure within, can say, Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today.” –John Dryden

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British-born jazz musician David Holland thought for a long time about leading his own quintet, but he procrastinated, in part because he believed that “music was a long process,” that musical maturation takes time. After recovering from heart surgery, however, he had another opportunity to form a quintet. “I’m not going to wait anymore—I’m going to get on with it right away,” he told himself. And he did, becoming a world-renowned, critically-acclaimed bassist, composer, bandleader, and educator.

As a rebellious college student, aspiring actor Victor French came across this quote: “Make some attempt daily to create something beautiful.” His effort to live by that philosophy changed the direction of his life. He explained, “No matter what I do, I try to create something beautiful every day—whether teaching, writing, acting, or just living.” French became best known for his roles as Mr. Edwards on TV’s Little House on the Prairie and Mark Gordon on Highway to Heaven. Both shows continue to bring beautiful messages to viewers in reruns.

A Christopher Prayer for Today

God, I spend so much time reliving yesterday
or anticipating tomorrow
that I lose sight of the only time
that is really mine—the present…
You give me today, one minute at a time.
That’s all I have—all I ever will have.
Give me the faith that knows that each moment
contains exactly what is best for me.
Give me the hope that trusts You enough to
forget past sins and future trials.
Give me the love that makes each minute of
life an anticipation of eternity with You.

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Today

“I shall do so much in the years to come,
But what have I done today?
I shall give out gold in princely sum,
But what did I give today?
I shall lift the heart and dry the tear,
I shall plant a hope in the place of fear,
I shall speak with words of love and cheer,
But what have I done today?
I shall be so kind in the after while,
But what have I been today?
I shall bring to each lonely life a smile,
But what have I brought today?
I shall give to truth a grander birth,
And to steadfast faith a deeper worth,
I shall feed the hungering souls of earth,
But whom have I fed today?”
—Nixon Waterman

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Married in 1954, J. and Mary Bannatyne worked at making their marriage strong. Their vision of what marriage should be changed as they matured, wrote Bannatyne in Marriage & Family Living magazine. “We have learned not to let what we hope ‘will be’ interfere with fully savoring the living experience of today’s ‘what is.’ In order to appreciate today’s good in our marriage, we have had to learn to live with imperfection… and to forgive minor and major faults… We couldn’t put off enjoying each other until the marriage was fine-tuned to that perfection, which would only come with time and patience.”

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“Each instant of our lives can be regarded as a present opportunity for a new awakening or rebirth.” —Gerald Jampolsky, M.D.

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The noted New York ballet dancer, choreographer, and teacher Jacques d’Amboise exuded confidence. Explaining that confidence, he said, “I do the very best I can every minute. Most people think, ‘Oh, I could have done that a little better,’ but I never do. I always do my very best; therefore, I can’t fail. You have to be aware of the past, and you have to look toward the future, but you can only control the present, and you can only control yourself.”

Shelley Bruce spent several years in the 1970s appearing as the title character in the Broadway musical Annie. At age 16, however, she put her acting career on pause after she was diagnosed with leukemia. Thankfully, she received treatment and went into remission. But the experience taught her how fleeting life can be. As a recipient of the National American Cancer Courage Award, Bruce said, “I take each day as it comes as the only reality… because it is what you do today that governs your future. So you must get up and get going in a very determined way to succeed… I have a keener sense of the importance of the moment. I never get involved in tomorrow anymore because I’m too busy doing what needs to be done today.”

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“People relate to time in many different ways. Referees call time; prisoners serve time; musicians mark time; historians record time; loafers kill time; statisticians keep time. But no matter how people relate to time, the fact remains that all of us are given the same amount of time. There are only 24 hours per day, 168 hours per week. Use them.”
—Dennis Hensley, Writer’s Digest