My wife and I got into a small-medium sized argument about this phrase, “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” I claimed it was in the Bible and she (knowing the Bible way better than me) was sure it wasn’t. So, we went at it and figured out that indeed it was, but I was raised with the Southern Baptist KJV and she was raised with the Lutheran standard ESV. Two different translations…same meaning. From the Gospel of Matthew, the 6th chapter:
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
In other words…. One day at a time.
I only knew the quote so well because my dad said it to me on repeat, multiple times a day. At first I thought it was just something he said, but as a grown, overly-metacognitive adult, I now realize it was because I needed to hear it every single day. I had and still have a propensity for trying to see the whole future at once, fix every problem for my whole life right now at this moment, and as I try, exploding into complete break-downs.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof…
One day at a time…
And so, on the eve of my first day of teaching as a high school music director in Wisconsin, I was on the verge of a break-down. I had slept little, and what sleep I did have was mostly taken in my desk chair. I was panicked, sure the year was going to fail, had been working for weeks, and still hadn’t planned the first day’s lessons. Why? I had forgotten… sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. One day at a time. I had been looking at the whole picture, trying to solve every problem for the whole year. Trying to plan every day at once, build every relationship now, pick every concert piece before I had heard these kids play or sing, and it just didn’t work. I was done before I began.
Then (and I wish I could remember how or who told me this) I had a sudden, ground-breaking realization that put me in tears. I don’t have to have the entire year planned, I only need to plan for tomorrow. I don’t remember the details that led me there, but I remember the feeling of relief when I realized that I only had to teach each class once the next day.
I continually find myself in this cycle of accumulating a life time’s worth of problems on my shoudlers and trying to solve them all now and realizing that I don’t actually have to solve them all today, this week, this month, or this year.
One. Day. At. A. Time.
So to my new teacher friends who might be panicking in the same way asking, “what do I do?” My answer is: One day at a time.
To my veteran friends who have added more to their plate this year than before: One day at a time.
You can’t do it all, solve it all, perform it all, heal it all, or see it all today. Nor should we.
One. Day. At. A. Time.
The ONE who holds all our days and time told us so.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.