Make Your Someday, Every Day!

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“Do I realize that I do not know how much time I have left? It may be later than I think.”

That’s how today’s Thought for the Day in Twenty-Four Hours a Day opens. Talk about a wake-up call on a Monday morning! A few lines later it asks the question I want to sit with today: “By the way, what is my purpose for the rest of my life?”

Some folks read a line like that and get gloomy. I read it and get fired up! Every one of us in recovery is living on bonus time. The same reading says it plainly: “Do I know that I am living on borrowed time and that I would not have even this much time left without A.A. and the grace of God?”

Borrowed time is a gift. So what are we going to do with it?

We are here for just a flicker

In Recovery Thinking, 90-Days to Change Your Life! I wrote, “We are here for just a flicker! In the scheme of things, our 75 to 100 years is nothing; it flies by.”

Moses said it even better in the prayer we know as Psalm 90:  “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12, ESV)

Numbering our days isn’t about counting down. It’s about making each one count. That’s a big difference! One comes from fear. The other comes from purpose.

Someday is not a day of the week

Here’s the trap. We know what we want to do. Call the kids more often. Go back to school. Get the body moving. Sponsor someone. Write the book. And we tell ourselves we’ll get to it someday.

In Success-Full, Living Life with Purpose: Recovery Mode, I put it this way: “Do not allow the “somedays” mentality to creep in. Make your “someday” every day! Go for it!”

Today’s Your Daily Reprieve carries a line from Gretchen Rubin that backs this up: “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.”

That’s the whole secret right there. Purpose isn’t one big moment. It gets built in small, ordinary days. In Success-Full, I shared my own pattern: “I follow the same pattern daily, I get up at the same time every day, and have set prayers, meditations, and affirmations I complete.” Nothing fancy. Just showing up, day after day after day.

Keep the wonder alive

Today’s Daily Reflections takes us back to the beginning, to that very first night: “Once inside A.A. I experienced a sense of being loved and accepted, something I had not felt since early childhood.” The writer closes with a prayer I want for every one of us: “May I never lose the sense of wonder I experienced on that first evening with A.A., the greatest event of my entire life.”

Wonder and purpose go together. When we remember where we came from, we’re a lot less likely to waste where we’re going.

And if your story still feels unfinished, good! It is. Matthew Kelly, in today’s Dynamic Catholic reflection from Feminine Genius, writes: “There may be parts of your story that feel incomplete, confusing, wounded, or far from beautiful. But God sees more.” God sees who we’re still becoming. That’s reason enough to get up and get going.

Do the footwork, then let go

Making our time count doesn’t mean running ourselves ragged. Al-Anon’s Courage to Change strikes a good balance today: “I could do the footwork, but I couldn’t force the house to appear. I had to let go and let God.” Today’s Reminder adds, “What I can’t do, my Higher Power can.”

The page ends with Victor Hugo: “Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.”

Do your daily task. Then rest. God is awake! The Meditation for the Day in Twenty-Four Hours a Day backs that up too: “the grace of God is always available for every human being who sincerely calls for help.”

Five ways to make your someday, every day

  • Answer the question in writing. Take ten minutes and finish this sentence: “My purpose for the rest of my life is…” It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can rewrite it next month.
  • Pick one someday. Look at your list of “I’ll get to it” dreams and circle one. Just one.
  • Shrink it to a daily action. Turn that someday into something you can do in 15 minutes today. Write one page. Walk one mile. Make one phone call. Make “One Day,” “Day One,” Today!
  • Anchor it to your routine. Attach it to something you already do every day, like your morning coffee, your prayers, or your drive to work. Same time, same place.
  • Number your days at night. Before bed, ask yourself, “Did I make today count?” Thank God for another sober day, let the rest go, and go to sleep in peace.

Life is way too good to waste

We didn’t get this second chance to sit on the sidelines. Every sober day is a gift, and the best thank-you note we can write is a life lived on purpose. As I wrote in Recovery Thinking, “Life is way too good to waste; go seize the day!”

Life is GOOOOOOOD!!!

What’s one “someday” you’re going to turn into an everyday, starting today?

Go, Go, Go… Dan 🙂

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Reflection note: I wrote this from my own daily readings. Quotes belong to their original authors and sources (Twenty-Four Hours a Day / Hazelden Foundation, via Daily Ponderables and Your Daily Reprieve; Daily Reflections / Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., via Daily Ponderables and Your Daily Reprieve; Courage to Change / Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., quoting Victor Hugo; Gretchen Rubin, via Your Daily Reprieve Thoughts to Start Your Day; Matthew Kelly, Feminine Genius, via the Dynamic Catholic Daily Reflection; Psalm 90:12, The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV); Recovery Thinking, 90-Days to Change Your Life! and Success-Full, Living Life with Purpose: Recovery Mode). I used AI to help organize it and reviewed it before posting. Image created with AI assistance.