Last week’s writing focused on remembering God’s past acts [those recorded in the Bible and those we have personally experienced].
This week I will look at Jesus’ command that we focus on today. I’m calling it Step 2 in my Spiritual Strategy For Navigating Life!
Matthew 6:34 states: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.”
Since Jesus is God, and He knows everything, taking this command seriously can have a beneficial impact on our lives.
I think this is the most difficult step to take. Our minds seem to automatically create a list of negative “what ifs”. I am working to retrain my mind, with God’s help, so that as soon as I find myself drifting from the matters at hand I’m redirected back to today.
My retraining goal is to change what I think about my tomorrows. For instance, I can praise God that should He give me tomorrow, that is a gift. I can be excited that I will have another opportunity to live for His kingdom, and tell others about Jesus.
These are a few of the ways I can keep my mind from wandering where it does not belong:
Spend more time reading the Bible and focusing on what I’m reading. The more I put God’s Word into my mind, the more I find His Spirit brings the Word to my remembrance to help me focus on today. I may not have the verses memorized word for word, but God helps me to pull up the truths I need for today.
I remind myself that God is taking care of tomorrow, and He is more than capable of helping me with today AND He will handle tomorrow when we get there. I can trust God with today AND tomorrow.
Playing God honoring music so I can sing. Singing occupies my mind!
I talk with God more about what I’m doing now, and what He wants me to do next. I want His input. He is the smartest person ever, so why would I neglect His guidance.
I work to create conversations with people. This may be telephone calls or text messages. This way I get to encourage people. I may type a prayer, or pray with someone over the phone.
I read God honoring books, fiction and non-fiction.
But God is showing me that the more I work at keeping my thoughts on today, the easier it is to navigate life’s challenges.
I am gifted by God with organizational skills. But God also shows me that sometimes I can turn those skills into perfectionism. Perfectionism can cause me to think I need to get everything on my “To Do” list done today. Perfectionism can destroy my peace because it causes my planning to leak into tomorrow’s business.
I readily admit that stopping myself from creating scenarios that will likely never exist is really hard! I might even do that for today. I need to stop that because it is of no value.
For me, the truth is I have far fewer challenges happening today than I think I have. They only seem to multiply when I start getting into scripting possible future events.
For example, I’m not a morning person. My body’s clock works better at night. When I know I need to get up earlier than normal on a day in the future, my perfectionism starts to rear itself up. I try to get everything done today so that those future events will fall into place. Do you see what I’m doing? I’m leaving God out of the equation. I’m forgetting that He will help me organize today so that tomorrow will work out just fine.
When I stay in the present, God always is there to help guide and direct me. He has proven this to me time and again. Tonight was further evidence of that. I needed to plan for Christmas Eve lunch and then decide what to do about dinner with friends for Sunday. Today is Monday. Should we go out to eat or eat in? What should I have? When will I have time to shop if we eat in?
But God was right there. I had gone to one child’s dance class, and ended up with a free hour before my next event. BJs was on my way. The people for my Sunday dinner were glad to come to my house. I bought food for Sunday and Christmas Eve during my free hour. Meals were planned, and no more tossing ideas around in my head. Today God aided me in planning and preparing for future events. It wasn’t worrisome, but peaceful.
The times I relax and rely upon God, I experience His amazing peace and provision! Today and what needs to get accomplished [not what I THINK needs to get accomplished] happens. I’ve experienced God changing up events that I thought would absolutely have to occur to make room for what needs to be done. My schedule smooths out, and peace reigns in my heart. I’ve experienced Him protecting me from acting too quickly, thus avoiding negative consequences.
As I learn to rest in God’s leading today, keeping good communication with Him, the better my day goes and the better I sleep. I enjoy God more, and life’s stresses subside.
Matthew 6:33 is one of my favorite verses: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The context is that God will provide for our needs. Jesus assures us that He knows our needs. He reminds us that our responsibility is to seek Him – FIRST!
God’s Word is living and active. As we integrate His Word into our lives, we experience His peace and joy in the midst of the stresses of this life.
Next week I will talk about Step 3 in my Spiritual Strategy For Navigating Life!
I would love to hear how you keep yourself focused on today! Please send me your thoughts at: ButGodCares@gmail.com. If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, please reach out to me, you are missing the best gift you could ever receive.
Living for Jesus, Donna
P.S. If this has helped you, please share it with others!
Note: If the verses for Bible references do not appear when you hover over them, go directly to the website, and they should appear for you. Also, please remember to look at the full context of the verses by reading the complete passage.
Copyright 2026 Donna Shappy All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other – without the prior permission of the author.