Today Matters

by Andrew Cromwell

Today matters, but at the same time it doesn’t. It is one of life’s many paradoxes. What you do today eventually results in who you are tomorrow. And, there is no doubt, you can make some excellent choices today that will positively affect your future or you can make some terrible choices that could destroy it. 

Your future is made up of all of the todays between now and then. Just like most overnight successes don’t happen overnight, but as a result of lots of work, failed attempts and determination, tomorrow’s victories happen because of little decisions made every day. 

Put yourself in the shoes of the future you. Perhaps that future you has a college degree, is happily married (emphasis on the happy), has a great job, or a solid relationship with your kids. If you were to pick out any single day between now and that future you, the chances are that day would not be incredibly important. In the vast scheme of things, most days aren’t. 

This is the paradox. 

Any one day, doesn’t usually matter much. But string together a year or two of one days and suddenly you’ve got destiny-changing power. If you procrastinate today, no big deal. But if you procrastinate today, tomorrow, the next day and the next, pretty soon you are staring at another year gone by and you haven’t accomplished anything.

In football, there are two types of offenses (well there are many more, but for the sake of simplicity we will pretend there are only two). There is the “hail-mary” offense and the “grind-it-out” offense. The hail-mary offense relies on singular big plays where the quarterback throws the football as far down the field as he can in an attempt to win big. The grind-it-out offense is focused on a consistent gain of yards. The goal is to keep moving the ball forward every single play. A few yards here and few yards there and before you know it, you’ve got points on the board.

And that is why today matters. You need to move the ball forward. Just a little. A little consistency applied over a long time yields big results. Consistency is like water in the old Chinese proverb, a constant drip will wear through a rock. 

The Scripture says in Isaiah, “here a little, there a little”. That is how change happens. That is how a future is created. 

Do you want to accomplish something? Then do a little today. And then do a little tomorrow. Rinse and repeat. And remember, if you fail one day, no big deal! Just get back up and do a little the next day!