To Savor Life's Joy, Relax And Take It One Day At A Time
If someone gave us a gift of supreme worth and we left it unopened or distorted it to unworthy ends, the donor could conclude that we were unaware of or insensitive to the gift's true worth.
The Creator gives to each of us the marvelous gift of life. What we do with it reveals the appreciation we feel.
Studdert-Kennedy, chaplain to George V, said that when he stood before God at the hour of his death, the Creator would ask only one question: "Well, what did you make of it?"
We all have dreams and aspirations that lure us on to finer accomplishments. But when apprehensions of tomorrow rob us of satisfactions today, or when memories of past failures or defeats haunt each day, our years become foolhardy or neurotic.
Who or what shall deliver us from the worry that robs us of the joy and usefulness of life? Jerry Lewis, the comedian, was once counseled, "Don't worry, Jerry. Don't worry." Fine, the comedian responded, "but how do you don't?"
Pythagoras, who lived a little more than 500 years before Jesus, and whose genius ushered in the golden age of Greece, taught his disciples to live for the day only. He urged them to not worry about anything that was over and could not be altered. "Wipe out the past," he said. "It is over and there is nothing you can do about it now - and do not worry about the future."
Jesus encouraged his followers to do the same. He said, "Therefore, I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."
This did not mean that Jesus was improvident, or that he counseled against preparing for the future. Nor would he have us completely blot out the past. He counseled against the practice of bankrupting our days by paying interest on regrets of the past, or of borrowing in advance on the trouble of the future.
One of Jesus' 20th-century disciples who came to understand this was Dr. William Osler, author of a small book titled "A Way of Life." The book is a talk he gave to a group of students at Yale University in 1913.
Osler was 64 years old when he accepted the invitation to talk, and as he searched his mind for a helpful theme, he remembered how he had felt as a medical student 42 years before. He remembered how he worried over final exams and about his own future, about where he would go and how to get started in medical practice.
As he pondered, he recalled how he had been inspired by words from the writing of Thomas Carlyle: "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly in the distance, but what lies clearly at hand."
This fine statement became a chart for his life. He would do each day's work the best he knew how, planning for the future but not worrying about it. He would try to convey the principle of living a day at a time to the young students at Yale. How could he say it in some graphic way?
In traveling to America for the lecture, he had the opportunity to stand on the bridge of the ship with the captain. The captain spoke proudly of his ship, as though it were a thing alive. "She is a huge monster," he said, "with brains and nerve, an immense stomach, a wonderful heart and lungs, and a splendid system of locomotion."
As he was speaking, a signal sounded. The captain pushed a button and all over the ship, watertight compartments were closed. By simply pressing a button, the captain could instantly shut off parts of the ship. That was what Osler would say to the students! He would tell them to concentrate on the day's work, do what was needed to be done to the best of their abilities, and shut off the past and the future in day-tight compartments - take life one day at a time.
The members of Alcoholics Anonymous have probably learned how to live in "day-tight compartments" as efficiently as anyone. Members are not asked to accomplish their victory over the bottle for all-time - just for a day at a time. When we try to carry the responsibilities of a lifetime all at one moment, it is overpowering and we fail. But day by day builds a pattern of victory.
Jesus' encouragement to his followers rested in his assurance that each day we are in God's care: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee," and "Cast your care on God and he carest for you."
By repeating these and other affirmations, we will be strengthened and encouraged to live each day more fully. This does not mean that we will be oblivious to bona fide problems of ourselves and others. It means we will be sustained and upheld by the assurances of God's presence each day. -----------------------------------------------------------------
A new booklet of Dale Turner columns is now available. The 60-page booklet, "Let's Think About It," includes 28 of Dr. Turner's best columns published in The Seattle Times over the past four years. Copies are $2 each if picked up at The Times office, at Fairview Avenue North and John Street. Or, they're available by mail order for $3 each, by sending your check to The Seattle Times, Dale Turner Booklet, P.O. Box 1926, Seattle, WA 98111-1926.