Just For Today

Lenten Season.

I finally had a talk with myself and began to really listen to the messages of this Lenten Season.

The time before Easter is a time for preparation, spiritual discernment, and  spiritual renewal.  It has been stated by many that this is a contemplative time of year. 

During the last few months I feel like I haven’t been open to feeling  God’s presence and love.  I am feeling despondent about a few things,  but a major concern  is  a dear  friend of mine is close to the time of being cared for by Hospice, and it is a clear reminder to me that nothing stays the same.

As I sit and read my lesson for the Bible Study Class I attend each week, I struggle to focus on what the writer is saying.   I find myself growing impatient with people who are always complaining about mundane things, or what I have judged to be mundane

Last week I had a talk with myself,  and I began to express gratitude again for my friends and family, and to have a more positive and open perspective to my daily life.

Two experiences just last week have filled my heart with love and gratitude .  I am finally feeling like a dry plant who is sprouting new buds from the fresh water it has received.

My husband and I attended our grand nieces’ first birthday party.  What a joy it was to be guests in our nephew’s home, and be able to watch the proud parents welcome people to celebrate their daughter’s first birthday.  Hearing the laughter and watching our family gather together for this wonderful occasion was a true example to me of love and gratitude.

That evening we had dinner in our daughter’s home.  After everyone was seated my daughter said,

“I just want everyone to know how happy we are to have you here with us in our new home.”

Hearing my daughter articulate her feelings and also revealing her emotions as she talked, was a gift.

I thought to myself, “Yes! her spiritual side has just paid us a visit.”

Then she looked at me and asked if I wanted to say grace.  I told her, she just did.  I added a short prayer of gratitude and felt that at that moment, life couldn’t get any better.

As I reflect on this past week, and also ponder about what is going to happen to my friend within the near future, I will try to practice what I know and believe .  I need to ask for God’s grace. I need to feel grateful for my friends and family, and I need to ask for guidance in how and what to do for my friend who may be near the end of her life.

A prayer I keep in my journal states it well:

“Just For Today.”  
By Marjorie Holmes

Oh, God, give me grace for this day.
Not for a lifetime, nor for next week, nor
For tomorrow, just for this day.
Direct my thoughts and bless them,

Direct my work and bless it.
Direct the things I say and give them blessing, too.
Direct and bless everything
that I think and speak
And do. So that for this one day,
just this one
Day, I have the gift of grace
that comes from
Your presence….

Peace,Connie I. Clark