One day at a time….

I have believed the best of every man.
And find that to believe is enough to make a bad man show him at his best,
or even a good man swings his lantern higher.
William Butler Yeats

If suffering brings wisdom, I would wish to be less wise.
William Butler Yeats

(grave marker of W.B.Yeats on the grounds of St Columba’s Church, Drumcliff, Co Sligo, Ireland / Julie Cook / 2015)

I have a very dear friend whose husband has been sick for quite sometime.
His is an illness of which there is no cure, no getting better…just a progressive worsening.
He has episodes, bouts with other illnesses as a result of the key illness and it’s prescribed meds, that result in always near and catastrophic brushes with death—all of which are long to overcome, simply adding to complicate the existing illness.
A wretched cycle to be sure…

When stopped and asked by the well intended and long lost friend, by those who run into her here and there, she is immediately asked the same question…. “how is your husband is doing?”
Her response, most often, never wavers…and is spoken in the most sincere tender southern country drawl…

“One day at a time, sweet Jesus”

Now to the casual observer such words may sound a bit cheesy, sappy sweet or cheeky, depending on ones point of view, but to this gentle friend of mine, it is simply truth incarnate.

For her’s is a faith rooted fast and deep.

Only one day, just one, is all we are given or guaranteed…nothing more, nothing less…
this much she knows.
And it is by the Grace of God through the blood of His only son, Jesus Christ….
poured out for both you and me, that we can continue putting one foot in front of the next,
day after day….
She knows this and lives this.
So yes, one day, only one at a time, and only by the Grace of sweet Jesus…

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:4-9