Photo A Day: Numbers

“Age is just a number.” “Look out for Number One.” “One is the loneliest number.” “Two’s company, three’s a crowd.” “His number was up.” “I’m in two minds about it.” “Six of one, half dozen of the other.” We use numbers in our speech all the time. We also use them to tell time, on price tags and UPC symbols, when we follow a recipe, on the calendar. We are constantly surrounded by numbers. But the numbers I check most often - every day, multiple times a day, in fact – are the numbers that refer to time. What’s the date? What’s the time? How much time do I have left? What do I have to do today? What do I have to do in the next hour? If I didn’t constantly have the updated numbers in front of me that tell me how time is passing, I’d be lost.

I have a calendar on my computer that has all my important events carefully noted on it, with times, locations, and details. But that’s not really the calendar I look at most often. I look at this cheerful little calendar, the one that sits above my kitchen sink. I love this calendar.

Do you know why I love it? Because it reminds me to focus on just today. When I look at this calendar, it doesn’t remind me that I have to pick my daughter up at school at noon, or that I have a dentist appointment at 3:15, or that I have a meeting after dinner. It doesn’t remind me that my column is due on Tuesday or that I’m teaching Sunday School next week or that my cousin’s brother-in-law’s uncle’s dog’s birthday is coming up. It reminds me to take one day at a time. Even on my craziest day, I can deal with today. Tomorrow has enough trouble of its own – but I can deal with that tomorrow. Today, all I have to deal with is today. And I can do that. I can always do that. After all, today is only a number.

Numbers.