One Day At A Time And Other Talks On Life And Religion

CONTENTS

1. A DAY AT A TIME
2. GOD IN THE WHEELS
3. A TRIPLE BEST
4. FINICAL FARMING
5. THE DOCTOR
6. WELL AND NOW
7. THE "WASHEN FACE" IN WAR TIME
8. THE REAL MARTHA
9. OUR UNEARNED INCREMENT
10. SMOKING WICKS
11. CULPABLE GOODNESS
12. A KHAKI VIRTUE
13. THE OVERCOMING OF PANIC
14. THE DAY’S DARG
15. GASHMU THE GOSSIP
16. GOD IN FRONT
17. "UNBELIEF KEPT QUIET"
18. THE EQUIPMENT OF JOY
19. THE GOD OF THE UNLOVABLE MAN
20. UNDER THE JUNIPER TREE
21. INSTRUCTING THE CABIN BOY
22. GOD’S DOOR OF HOPE
23. NOWADAYS
24. ROUNDABOUT ROADS
25. THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF LOVE
26. THE ART OF DOING WITHOUT
27. WONDER
28. THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD
29. THE UNRETURNING BRAVE
30. THE SACRAMENT OF SUNSET






"_As thy days, so shall thy strength be._"
(DEUTERONOMY xxxiii. 25.)


I

A DAY AT A TIME

If any one of us knows a word of hope or has picked up a message of
comfort anywhere, it is his plain duty to share it, these days. We owe
it to each other to cherish as exceeding precious, and to pass on to
others, every brave and helpful word or thought we come across.

Well, here is a splendid one for us all, and especially for those who
have most at stake in this great conflict, and are looking anxiously
ahead and fearing what the weeks may have in store,--"As thy days, so
shall thy strength be." It is a great and glorious promise. And just a
couple of verses further on, it is caught up and included in one greater
still,--"The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the
everlasting arms." Fathers and mothers, with a boy, or more than one,
perhaps, away on active service for King and country, this promise is
for you, to take to your heart and hide there, like some precious secret
between you and God,--As thy days, so shall thy strength be.

Notice carefully, however, how the promise runs. Not, mark you, as your
life is, not as your years are, not even as your weeks are, but as your
days, so shall your strength be. For each day as it comes, God’s
promise is that strength will be given you, but just for a day at a
time. The way to live under any circumstances, but especially in these
hard weeks, is just a day at a time. Leave to-morrow with God, my
brother, until it comes. That is what the Word of God lays upon you as
a duty. Live this day at your best and bravest, trusting that God’s
help will not fail you. And for the duties and trials of to-morrow,
however hard and heavy, believe that strength for that day also will be
given you, when it comes.

You cannot have failed to observe what an important place this way of
living had in the teaching of Jesus Christ. He was always trying to get
men to trust the coming days to God, and to live fully worthily and
nobly to-day. He was dead against the practice of adding to the burdens
of to-day fears and forebodings for to-morrow. It is in love to us, in
His desire to save us unnecessary pain, that He bids us remember that
"sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."