Welcome to "Tuesday Mornings," a weekly source of encouragement for Christians everywhere.

 

How many times have you said  to someone: "There's no way I can get this done today. I will need more time!" And you end up carrying over an unfinished task to the next day. These unfinished tasks have a way of piling up, and before you know it, your anxiety level has made you ill. And here's the problem: we can never guarantee there will be a tomorrow! We can never be sure that the unfinished task will wait for us. We can never know that we will even live to see tomorrow.

 

The well-worn admonition is true: "Live for today. It's the only day you have."

 

This week's "Tuesday Mornings" is entitled, "One Day at a Time." It's based on the words of a song. In fact, it's based on the title of numerous songs with the same title.

 

Read on, and then prepare to sing.

 

Tom Barnard

A Senior Encourager

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“One Day at a Time”

Tom Barnard

 

y guess is that you have heard at least one rendition of a song with the title, “One Day at a Time.” There have been many songs with that title, in a wide range of genre. If you doubt this, check with Google.com. Just type the title in the search box, and watch the Internet go to work. The number of references to songs with this title is impressive.

 

Composers and performers of songs with the title cover the musical universe. A partial search turned up the following names: Jeremy Camp, John and Nancy Barry, the Jonas Brothers, Elton John, 2Pac, Marijohn Wilkins and Kris Kristofferson, Eminem, and the Thrashers Brothers. Take your pick.

 

The lyrics of some of the songs are upbeat and positive; others are downbeat and negative. Here are the words of the first verse and refrain of the song, “One Day at a Time,” attributed to John Lennon:

 

You are my weakness

You are my friend

Nothing I have in the world

Makes better sense

‘Cause I’m the fish and you’re the sea

When we’re together

Or when we’re apart

There’s never a space in-between

The beat of our hearts

‘Cause I’m the apple and you’re the tree.

One day at a time

Is all we do

One day at a time

Is good for you, you, you.

 

“I’m the fish and you’re the sea?…I’m the apple and you’re the tree?” Interesting. But personally I prefer the refrain of the Wilkins-Kristofferson song, recorded by Lena Martell in 1979:

 

One day at a time, sweet Jesus

That’s all I’m asking from you

Just give me the strength to do every day what I have to do

Yesterday’s gone, sweet Jesus

Tomorrow may never be mine

Lord, help me today

Show me the way

One day at a time.

 

Ask a person who has watched a loved one die slowly from cancer. Talk to counselors who help clients face unspeakable tragedies. Search the faces of those who have lost a spouse or parent in military combat. Listen to those who lost family or friends in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. The only way to survive is “one day at a time.” Read these words of assurance from Psalm 46:1-3:

 

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear,

though the earth give way and mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”