10/27/21

 Today’s Trouble is Enough

            So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Matthew 6:34

            My son is taking some Applied Sciences classes in homeschool at the moment.  His big year-long project is building a tiny house.  We bought an 18 foot trailer which will serve as the foundation of his house and allow him to live in it and bring it with him wherever he may roam.  It is a tremendous opportunity that will teach him a lot and leave him with an incredible resource when we are finished.  We picked up the trailer this weekend and, due to some communications issues, need to extend our garage by a foot in order to give him a space to work during the rapidly approaching winter.

            I was planning on tackling that project today.  We would finish up youth group, I would go to the hardware store and buy our supplies then take a couple of hours to make the modifications so that we could close our garage door.  This has to be the priority, right?  Winter is coming.  The intense cold is coming.  We need to finish this project so that we can move on to all the other projects that are rushing towards us.  I need to spend some time working on selling my book so that we can keep our cash flow going in the right direction while we wait for homeschool reimbursements.  But the work can get done right now.  Or…

            Or we can spend some time decompressing from youth group with my son because there was a trivia game today and he was too successful and he felt the stress of everyone looking at him and cheering him on.  While we are helping him calm down, we can also turn our attention to the youngest child who is sobbing because she has to choose between a fun trip with mom and attending a birthday party with her friends.  Then it is a phone call from an ailing relative who is asking if my wife could leave the family for a season to come take care of them.  Then we make dinner and eat dinner and clean up from dinner.  Then we have our locked-in-stone 90 minute bedtime routine where every kid has their schedule. Then it is back to my son who needs to figure out how to use a graphing calculator for his math assignments tomorrow and cannot actually lie down or go to sleep until this is resolved.

            And now it is 11pm and the hardware store is closed and I am far too tired to start a construction project in the dark on a 30 degree night.  Winter is still coming.  We still cannot close the garage door.  These projects still have to get done.  But today’s problems and today’s issues were enough for today.

            I love working ahead.  I love being prepared.  I love arriving early to everything.  I love having all my projects done when I go to bed, all the boxes checked and the slate clean for the next day.  And I have learned how to live without those things happening.  Some days, most days, do not go according to plan.  Some days, most days, are spent navigating the present instead of preparing for the future.  Our yard is an overgrown mess.  The dishes are never quite done.  Piles of things to be dealt with soon are in every room in my house.  It is not how I would live if I were single, but it is okay for where I am now. 

            Today’s troubles are enough for today.  Today’s drama and crises and troubleshooting can be enough.  They are enough to occupy our hearts and our minds and our attention.  We do not need to add on to them by imagining everything that might happen in the future and worrying about it.  I sleep hard each night because I poured myself completely out each day and because I know that we did enough for one day.  Could we have achieved more?  Certainly.  We could have been more efficient, more productive and accomplished more.  But the kids made it through today.  My wife and I made it through today and God carried us through one more cycle.

            Tomorrow will have drama and crisis and problems to solve and behaviors to manage.  And they will take up all of the space in my heart and mind.  And that is all I need to carry for tomorrow, because God will be with us through it all.

           

A moment to reflect:

What worries can you let go of today?