Elevator Wisdom

“Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11, NIV 2011).

I was rushing down four floors to check an X-ray for a patient who was delaying my clinic with an unscheduled visit. The elevator door was closing as I jumped on to join an attendant with a senior patient in a wheelchair. I caught the middle of their conversation, with the first words from the attendant leaning over the wheelchair.
“You gotta take it one day at a time.”
“Yep, I’ve seen folks try to take two and it just don’t work.”
“Yes, sir. Gotta get that one out of the way first.”
The elevator opened and I rushed out.

One day at a time. One moment at a time.
Elevator wisdom from folks far less educated than I.
They get it; I haven’t.
I’ve been out of medical school quite a while, so I don’t feel too bad that I had to look up the difference between myopia and hyperopia. With myopia, our lenses focus the light on our retinas such that we can only see things clearly up close. Hyperopia means our lenses allow us to focus best on that which is far away.
In my walk each day, with my patients, my family, my personal goals, I am definitely hyperopic. On a busy day, when I am examining one patient, I am often thinking of the next. When I am enjoying my kids on a sunny day in spring, I am worried about the next struggle in their lives. When I am serving Christ where I am, I am longing to serve elsewhere, someday.
My chief problem is not that I am concerned about the future, but that my vision is so distorted that those future concerns are so prominent. I’m wearing the same lenses that colleagues who do not know Christ are wearing.
Jesus never said, “Worry about tomorrow. There is no security out there. You are on your own.”
Jesus said, “Today is the day I have given you. It is filled with service and promise and glory. Focus, serve, touch and enjoy. I am with you now. When tomorrow becomes your today, I will be with you then as well.”
These words are the lenses through which I need to see my world.
Elevator wisdom: “You gotta take one day at a time.”

Dear God,
Let me focus on your infinite possibilities today and trust you with your infinite possibilities tomorrow.
Amen.