One More Thing

My cell-phone rang and I cringed—visibly. Carolyn asked me, "What's wrong?" "I can't deal with one more thing," I muttered under my breath. 

I find myself responding with something less than alacrity to the demands placed upon me these days. Aging has forced a reluctance to engage.

I rise each morning, brush my teeth, shower, pull on my socks, trousers, shirt and shoes, throw down the pills and potions that keep me alive each day (“Better things for better living through chemistry," as the DuPont people used to say), carry out a few other ready-for-the day chores...and feel like going back to bed. I'm exhausted. 

As I thought about my reluctance to seize the day I've come to realize that it's not one single thing that brings me to my knees. It's the accumulation: "one more thing."

Perhaps you feel the same way

If so, Solomon, the wisest man in the world, has a blessing for you: "May God give you the right stuff for every thing, all through day" (1Kings 8:59, my translation).

Literally Solomon asked God to "make righteousness" (give us righteousness, the right stuff), for "the thing of the day in its day." (For the next "thing" we have to do today when we have to do it.)

You never know what the next "thing" will be, which is why we must arm ourselves each day with our Lord's prayer, "Give us this day our dailybread"—grace this day for the next thing I have to do. 

All of which reminds me of an old hymn my father used to sing as he wandered around the house:

Day by day, and with each passing moment,

Strength I find, to meet my trials here;

Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,

I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.

He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure

Gives unto each day what He deems best—

Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day, the Lord Himself is near me

With a special mercy for each hour;

All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,

He Whose Name is Counselor and Pow’r.

The protection of His child and treasure

Is a charge that on Himself He laid;

“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”

This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then in every tribulation

So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,

That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation

Offered me within Thy holy Word.

Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,

E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,

One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,

Till I reach the promised land. —Karolyna W. Sandell-berg 1865)

David Roper

6.11.18