Recently, I posted about avoiding thoughts that begin with the words, “What if…?” Nothing good really ever comes from that question. For example: What if I lose my job?

We never follow that question with, “Well, God is good. I can trust Him, so He’ll provide another one for me, probably a better one!”

No, the internal talk usually goes like this:

If I lose my job, how will I pay the bills? We’ll lose our house. Where will we live? We’ll have to move in with family. Oh, that’s going to be humiliating. The kids will have to change schools and make all new friends. They’ll be devastated. We’ll probably have to get rid of one of the cars. One car? We can’t live like that.

On and on it goes. Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a few days.

Do you ever feel a vague sense of anxiety…like a little black cloud is hovering over you wherever you go?

I’ll bet if you re-trace your thoughts, you’ll find you were dwelling on some negative future possibility. You couldn’t figure it out, so your feelings followed your thoughts right down a discouraging dark hole.

So let’s try an experiment. Live one day at a time. Maybe even one hour or one moment at a time. God’s grace is sufficient for right now, so enjoy the moment, whatever it is.

When your mind insists on taking you into tomorrow and trying to solve the potential “what if?” problems, refuse to go there. Stay in the moment. If you’re sure someone has to be thinking about tomorrow and all the “what ifs”, then let God do it. He won’t worry or obsess or wring His hands. He sees what’s coming and already has it figured out. Let him surprise you.

Living one day at a time is an expression of faith. It simply says, “God, You are good and I can trust You with every detail of tomorrow. I have nothing to worry about, so let’s enjoy today together.”

One day at a time. Will you try it with me?