Article August 30, 1999 Issue

Long day?

Take it moment by moment, with God.

By Carol Rockhold Miller

Have you ever looked at your fully-packed agenda and dreaded the long day ahead? I used to do that often. Then, even before getting off to the first destination, I felt tired, and I worried whether I'd have the energy to do it all without feeling worn out or even ill. This outlook was most vivid at a time when I generally felt that I had a limited amount of energy and health with which to get through any day's commitments.

The simplest realization dawned on me and has sustained me ever since, even through unusually long days crammed with a full-time job, frequent late meetings, and numerous other obligations. It was this: every day is exactly the same length. As I said, simple. Yet I really did cease feeling burdened by full schedules once I realized that I had the same number of moments in each day, and that it didn't matter where I happened to be or what I needed to do. What did matter was how I filled those moments. I was on top of everything when I was conscious of God's presence and absolute control over every event of my day. Traveling, going from commitment to commitment, having little time for quiet study, having days that sometimes stretched into the next day—it was only my feeling about these activities that was telling me it was a long day.

For some time prior to realizing this, I would feel secure and at peace as long as I was home in my living room, reading or praying. What a limiting thought that was. How unnecessary to be so restricted. It was as if I had a tether of so much time or so much distance, at the end of which I would run out of steam. I was freed when I realized that I was just as much "at home"—just as much loved, cared for, and strengthened by God, divine Love—wherever I was, whatever I was doing. That consciousness of Love's presence and tender care, not the actual location or activity, is what gives anyone strength, health, and peace. The Bible asks, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" (Ps. 139:7) How joyous it is to dwell in the consciousness of God's ever-presence regardless of our physical location.

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