Just Another Tuesday

 

 

 

 

Last week I turned 60.

It’s kind of a trip when you think about it. I suppose we all have ideas in our minds of what a 60 year old person is, and of course never imagine thinking of ourselves as “that.”

But, while somewhere, somehow, some counter clicking off the seconds like an odometer rolled over and recorded that Ron Hagelganz was now 60, the truth is – it was just another Tuesday.

I often tell students who are really nervous about an upcoming Exam, that it is really just another day. The hours and minutes will come and go, and either they will pass the test, or fail, but in the grand sweep of things, freaking out about what’s coming isn’t going to help at all. It will come, and it will go.

Time is a funny thing. We often act like we have all the time in the world, when in reality we don’t really have any time at all. All we ever really have, is now. The past is gone, and the future doesn’t exist yet, so here we are – now. Thats why making the most of every moment is so important.

There’s a scroll that is often used in the décor of the Japanese tea ceremony that reads “Ichigo Ichi,” which roughly means, “every moment, only once.” It reminds us that we don’t want to waste a single moment, because each one is really the only “now” we will ever have.

I think that’s what Jesus was talking about when he said in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” And Paul in Philippians 4:6. “Be anxious for nothing…”

It’s so easy to get so concerned about what’s coming up, that we miss the only real now, the only real life we ever have. And God has so much more for us than that.

So whether it’s a Karate Exam, an unimaginable birthday, or whatever – and no matter how insurmountable, frightening or crazy it might seem – take it in stride, without worry, and with confidence and hope in the Lord. Because in the end, it’s really just another Tuesday.