Tomorrow is discovered and conquered and inhabited in every thought allowed residence in passing moments today. And why is tomorrow worth so much?
Today. Now. The day in which my feet stand. The smiles I see. The tears that fall in life too thin. The successes small and big. The sinking seen and untold. The hope and reach for more. The blind following.
These are all made worthy not by what’s behind or for the glory of present, but what’s ahead and in front.
And when what, whatever what is ahead in tomorrow, is lost, maligned or forgotten, we spin aimlessly through today unsatisfied and lost. Hope runs distant, the day shrinks to minutes needing escape and we fade into the background of our own lives.
Feed the dog.
Maybe you’re like me. Just maybe you have days traveling in reverse when you feel nothing works in your favor or goes your way. Stub your toe in the dark of morning and fog of mind type of days when the coffee is not enough and smiles set flat on faces familiar; when deadlines race and friends go missing and you forget who you are. Those days aren’t so bad, actually. Everyone expects to have a bad day here and there. They have a way of making the good days sweeter and forging a fortitude and perseverance in our pace. No one hopes for those days, the bad ones, to last. And there’s fear and anxiety all wrapped up in those days lasting longer than you can.
Feed the dog.
Some days, the feeling of inadequacy lingers uninvitedly. Days age into week. Week into weeks. Weeks into months and beyond. Then I’m living maimed by the acceptance that inadequacy exists as more of a plausible, lasting reality than not.
The book still being written. The daughters still in need of strong guidance and whole love.
Inadequacy rules in my life when I give it living space unhinging dreams, dismantling hopes, ridiculing courage.
Feed the dog.
There’s a parable of sorts that will always stay with me. I heard it in my younger years. It was a simple teaching of a inner struggle and control. Often, I go back to this teaching when circumstance and thought tilts life too far off path for too long.
"A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: 'Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.' When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, 'The one I feed the most.'"
Feed the man inside of you who is good and capable and courageous; the man who dreams and wins and pushes through; the man who receives God’s immeasurably good grace to do all that pulses within your heart.
Starve the liar inside breeding contempt and fear and disconnect.
Each day, wrap up tomorrow with the thoughts given lasting residence in your heart.