One Day at a Time

There was a time when the concept of "one day at a time" frustrated me. It's even more frustrating when someone tells you to "take it one day at a time." There's something in me that still gets frustrated at the idea, although I've been able to embrace it more over time.

The problem is, we don't want to take it one day at a time. We want to be done with the battle once and for all - to destroy whatever our source of suffering and pain is. The thought that we might have to engage with it every day, perhaps even the rest of our lives, is a painful reality to accept. To take it one day at a time is to accept a lack of control over how long it will really take. Will it take a year, 5 years, 20 years?

Maybe this is a form of perfectionist thinking that says that if what we do today isn't enough to secure a full escape of our pain tomorrow, then maybe the battle isn't worth engaging with at all. I'm not sure who said it, but I've heard it said, "If something is worth doing, it is worth doing badly." Can we accept trying to live the life we want today even if we don't execute it perfectly? Maybe we would be more comfortable with "one day at a time" if it meant that escaping our pain really only took one day. I would have signed up on day one if I knew that one day of effort would be enough to last me a lifetime.

Anthony of the Desert said, "Every morning I must say again to myself, today I start." To say this requires a great deal of faith. It requires faith in what God says about us, that we are fully accepted and loved today in Christ. Maybe "one day at a time" is about sanctification. For some of us, maybe God is more excited about our growth journey over time than a one-time, full healing. If you're like me, there are parts of my life for which I would prefer the one-time healing approach. I would rather "win the game" then have to show up every day for "practice."

But to reject the offer of taking life one day at a time is to reject the truth that we are fully loved by God despite our current, flawed state. It is a resistance of the wonderful truth that God bestows, which is a declaration of 100% love and acceptance TODAY. Not when you get sober, not when you mend your marriage, not when you stop feeling anxious, not when you [fill in the blank]. It is a difficult thing to fully embrace the unconditional love of God in daily living.

To take life one day at a time requires the faith to believe what seems so contrary to our hearts - that we are fully loved, accepted, and celebrated by Jesus Christ this very moment even while what we most despise about ourselves is still present. It is about the basic truth we learn in the song “Just as I Am.” He really does love and accept us just as we are, not as what we wish we were.

To reject the offer to take life one day at a time, to let our pain and suffering get in the way of embracing life to the fullest, is to listen to the lies of shame which tell us that we can only live our lives when we have fixed our problems. That voice says that we have to hold off following Christ fully until our pain has been solved. How long have you been waiting to a full life until you solve your pain?

One day at a time means focusing on living a fully alive life in Christ TODAY and taking the pain with us. Maybe this is what Paul alluded to about always carrying in the body the death of Christ (2 Cor. 4:10). It reminds me of what Christ said about his yoke and burden being easy: He never said there wouldn’t be anything to carry.