NOVEMBER 22, 2025

 “The true definition of mental illness is when the majority of your time is spent in the past or future, but rarely living in the realism of NOW.” 

― Shannon L. Alder

EZEKIEL 27-28

25“ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of the nations. Then they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. 26They will live there in safety and will build houses and plant vineyards; they will live in safety when I inflict punishment on all their neighbors who maligned them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’ ”(28:25-26) 

JAMES 4

13Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

JOURNAL 

I am beginning to see how often I have lived caught between yesterday and tomorrow. I have talked about this before, taught it, written devotions about it, reflected on it, yet the conviction has not always made its way into my present moment. I have assumed tomorrow, and that assumption has kept me from giving my full heart to today. When I do that, I lose the only place where God actually meets me.

I am realizing that this entire struggle is not just spiritual, it is also wrapped up in my physiology. When I live in fear or anticipation, the stress, dopamine, and cortisol loop gets activated. My mind begins to chase what might happen, my body prepares for danger, and the present moment gets crowded out. When I learn to trust God with tomorrow, truly trust Him, tomorrow is removed from the plate. What remains is the simple work of today, solving real problems right here, loving real people right here, investing in what is actually before me right now. Everything shifts when tomorrow is surrendered.

God keeps reminding me that today is the only place where obedience can happen, the only place where love can be given, the only place where joy can be tasted. Planning for tomorrow is wise, but depending on tomorrow for happiness or meaning is where my pride shows up, because it assumes control over what belongs only to God.

So I am learning, slowly and honestly, to live the moment I am in. I want to soak in it with my full attention and remain rooted in the presence of God rather than drifting into the noise of my own thoughts. My thoughts and emotions are not wrong. They help me remember, create, and plan. They help me solve problems. But when they distract me from today, they begin to hurt rather than help.

The truth is that today is a great day filled with moments I will never get back. I want to make the most of them. I want to love fully, engage fully, and live fully. The present is where God is, and the present is where life actually happens.

7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you.

JAMES 4:7-8