It is easy to live another day. Take for instance, yesterday. This morning I was busy looking at the things from yesterday that I had not accomplished. My list was quite long. This led to rethinking all the places I could have and should have done things differently so I could have finished all the tasks on my list, returned all the calls, answered all the emails. Very soon I was living yesterday, not today.

Then sometimes it is easier to live tomorrow.Thinking ahead to all the events that need to take place tomorrow, places I need to go, people I need to connect with, meals I need to think about, laundry that needs to be done, books I’ve been meaning to get to, weight I mean to lose. You know how goes. It is easy to quickly find myself living tomorrow instead of today.

And yet today is truly where I am living, breathing, walking around. It is this day that God gives me, as the song goes. And so to that end, I try to follow a practice that a spiritual director taught me which I now offer to you. As you open your door to go wherever you are going, say these words:

I step out of the past.

I step into THIS day.

I step into myself.

I step into the Mystery.

You can do this as you go out your door in the morning. You can say it as you head into an important meeting. You can say it as you sit on the edge of your bed and prepare to get up in the morning. It has great power to bring us to the present moment and to help us to be present to this day.

A scripture comes to mind: "Give your attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." (Matthew 6:25 The Message)

How about we step into THIS day?