“Just for today, I will be happy. This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said: ‘Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.’” (ODAT, 10 July)
Being happy today does not mean looking beyond the day to the past or the future and being happy about that.
Rather, it means specifically disregarding the past and the future.
It entails placing the past and future—and their respective horrors—in the competent hands of God for transformation and preparation, instead focusing just on the stepping-stone sequence of good things today.
Almost nothing bad ever happens in the day itself: the bad things of life are almost always relegated to the past or the future.
When bad things actually do happen, often they’re quite exciting and interesting to deal with in the moment.
The real horrors have been exhilarating.
Buckle up and grab the popcorn.
In the meantime, I can be happy in the ordinariness of the humdrum once I decide to be, unreservedly, and ask God for direction and strength concerning how to wake up to what is good, today.