The Day Before Tomorrow After Yesterday

Much of life gears around today. Right now. Here. This moment. Yet, what we focus on today sets up tomorrow for success or failure, which is a result of yesterday’s planning. There’s nothing like stepping into today adequately prepared for success and setting up tomorrow’s success with today’s planning.

This short time represents an Infinitesimal percentage of the 365 days it takes to trip around the sun. Consider this: The repetition of this plan points to the success or failure of the entire year.

When the pandemic began, we were stressed. Everything seemed to overwhelm our every moment. Day by day, we struggled, with no end in sight. The promised ending never occurred. Even today, we face the pandemic stepping into the role of an endemic. C-19 will be with us for a while to come.

How do we survive?

I live today from yesterday’s plan while planning tomorrow even though I exist today. Or, as I like to think about it, one day at a time.

Survival of the Fittest

Here’s a throwback to a prior time. Our species survives based chiefly on the power of the fittest among us. Those with the mental capacity to punch through the barriers. Anchored with the physical wherewithal to face every challenge and make it through to the other side.

Is luck factored into the equation? Perhaps there is some, but for the most part, it’s the intestinal fortitude that says, “I will survive.”

Mental toughness.
Not giving in to the stresses.
Digging deep for the strength to face the challenge.

I’m thinking through this because I’m facing a challenge. My brother is with me for several weeks to help me deal with tasks that are better done with two over the one – especially when the “one” is me. One day into the work and I’m sensing my limitations. It’s not just the doing but also the thinking. We’ve laid out the tasks and are facing them as they make sense, but each of us looks at the list from our unique perspective.

My sister-in-law was telling a joke yesterday: “How do you sneak up on a uni?” Uniquely.

That’s how we face the challenges. We are each unique and follow the path of how our minds and experiences work.

We will survive. Why? It’s joint survivorship. The strengths each of us brings to the table. A rising tide lifts all boats except the one with a hole below the waterline.

Here’s My Thought This Morning

The Apostle Paul outlines his challenges several times. One stands out this morning because I’m not sure you, nor I, would easily make it through what he thought so little about.

Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more:
in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.
From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned;
three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—
besides the other things, what comes upon me daily:
my deep concern for all the churches.
2 Corinthians 11:23-28 NKJV

Yet, through all these things, he was a conqueror.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13 NKJV

Why was Paul so able and capable? He had a mission!

“Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 
For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:15-16 NKJV

Perhaps this is where many of us fail, turn back, throw in the towel and quit. We do not have a mission nor a reason to press forward. Our toughness is missing because we don’t know our “why.” Our driving force for our success comes from the backbone of knowing our “why.” The finished line is reached with all effort spent on completing our “why we are here.”

Do you know your why?