Today

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts.” Take care, siblings, that none of you has an unbelieving heart that turns from the living God. Exhort one another every day, so long as it is called “today.” – Hebrews 3:7-8a & 12-13 (adapted) 

God help me, I entered this day with a hardened heart. Tired, and certain that only further exhaustion awaited me. Frustrated, and hardened against any hope that something new might emerge in the day. Breathing, but not believing in the fullness of life. 

God help me, as I entered this day, the story of “today” was already written in my mind and the story of me in the day was already rehearsed: 

Today the sun will set without a change in war, without a reprieve of despair. Today any fruits I bear will be in vain—or they will be late, as they too often are, and less effective than needed. Today will look very much like yesterday and tomorrow.  

Thank the living God, my entrenched story of today need not remain so. “Today, if you hear God’s voice…” And I notice it’s not “today if God speaks…” but rather, “today if you consider God’s voice…” Today, God’s voice is, and therefore today, another story is possible. 

Thank the living God, my hardened heart can still be softened today. Softened by the breath of the living God on a breeze. Eased by the smile of the living God on a stranger. Converted by the delight of God as a squirrel scampers up a tree, broken by the need of God in a flood-swept town, renewed by the fire of God in artistic imagination.  

So long as today is today, this hardened heart has a chance. 

Thank the living God. 

Prayer
It’s today, God—not yesterday or tomorrow, not a hamster wheel of fatiguing productivity, not a doomsday clock of worry. It’s today, fully and only today, and I am grateful.