COLUMN: Grey Matters – This is the day

“This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” — Psalm 118:24

One of the themes in Scripture is that God is to be experienced now, not just remembered from the past. God invites us to rejoice in the present, not just recall past wonders. Perhaps that simple Sunday School song, “This is the day” is more profound than we knew.

The Bible acknowledges the importance of remembering – but warns against living there. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing.” (Isaiah 43:18–19)! If we are focused on the past we could miss out on what God is doing now. He is always at work and doing something new and different in the present. Two good questions to reflect on if this is you are: “Is my focus on past mistakes or past victories preventing me from seeing God’s work right now? Am I open to what God is doing today, or only living by what He did yesterday?

Jesus teaches us to live in the present without being consumed by worry or future concerns. “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). Like Psalm 118:24, Jesus calls us to focus on today, and trust God instead. Ask yourself: “Do I regularly practice being “present with God” or am I always thinking about ‘what ifs’?”

Maybe life should be about today and is best lived between this tension of past and future? The Bible reminds us that life is brief, ‘like grass or vapour’, and encourages us to engage with it meaningfully in the present. “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12), is about knowing how to keep your days in check. To remember your past with God, but not to dwell there, to plan for your future, but not be held to a strict timeline. The Bible values remembrance, but not as a substitute for living. Scripture values planning and intentionality, but not as a substitute for being present to God.

Still not sure about this emphasis of living ‘in the now’? Check out wise Solomon: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Or from the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11). It seems God’s provision is meant to be daily and continual, not all at once.

In Daniel Khaneman’s path-breaking book Thinking Fast and Slow, he shows how our brains are limited in their awareness. He writes about how most of us pay more attention to our ‘remembering self’ which is focused on the past than our present ‘experiencing self’. Our ‘experiencing self’ lives our life, but our ‘remembering self’ writes the story – and that story is what often guides our ruminations on the past and our future choices. We can start living inside that story and its biases instead of fully experiencing our present reality. More awareness can help us slow down and experience our lives rather than rushing through with our built-in biases.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Gary Dyck is a chaplain and spiritual care provider at a hospital and personal care home in the Southeast.