“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34, NASB)
Just before the local governments shut down our golf courses in late March because of the pandemic, there was a brief window when it wasn’t clear whether our courses were, in fact, going to be closed. During that brief window, I played a couple of rounds not knowing whether those would be my last for some extended period of time. In those rounds, I experienced a “freedom” in my golf game that I haven’t encountered very often. My body and swing were fluid. My mind was uncluttered and free from the usual golf chatter (swing keys, “what ifs,” doubts), and there were no expectations about what my score was. I enjoyed my time on the course immensely.
Only later did I realize that I was playing each round as if it would be the last round I’d play for a long time. I wasn’t thinking of last week’s double bogey string or the “yips” that infected my putting stroke. I wasn’t thinking about when I might be allowed back on the course once it closed. I was totally focused on the moment and it was liberating and fun.
In the words of sport psychologists, I was “staying in the moment.” Trouble abounds when we don’t stay in the moment on the golf course and instead think about past or upcoming shots.
If our focus is not the past nor the future, then where do we look?Our spiritual life faces those same challenges. A multitude of passages throughout Scripture remind us to focus on today and not dwell on the past or the future.
Isaiah reminded his listeners to “forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” (Isaiah 43:18, NIV). Jesus said: “No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.” (Luke 8:62, MSG). And in Proverbs, we are warned that we should not “boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring” (Proverbs 27:1, NIV). In order to live in the moment, we must not dwell on the past.
The same is true with the future. James described the fleeting nature of our lives when he wrote: “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14, NIV). If our focus is not the past nor the future, then where do we look? The psalmist proclaimed that “this is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24, ESV). Today is where we look.
If we start each day by rejoicing and being glad about the day, and by confessing our sins and asking God for forgiveness, our hearts and minds will become uncluttered. Guilt, anger, anxiety and whatever other emotions are preventing us from being glad and rejoicing will disappear, thereby allowing us to focus on the day ahead of us. Once we do that, we won’t be concerned about the past or the future. We can stay in the moment and be prepared to live each day as if it is our last day.
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Mark “Ole” Olson
June 22, 2020
Copyright 2020 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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