Living in hope

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

Those who live with chronic illness (and those who love them) have no idea what tomorrow will bring. So, this is the day for conversation, sunsets, dessert, friendship, and love. This is the day to change light bulbs and plant flowers. This day is not to be wasted on pettiness or worry. “This . . . this is the day that the Lord has made.”

We live this day. We savor this moment—aware and ready to face today. Daily, we choose to live in hope, determined not to succumb to worry about tomorrow. We hope for cures. We hope for new medicines. We support research. We hope for a continued plateau in the progression of the illness. We hope in what we cannot see.

This message is adapted from “Living with Chronic Illness” written by Robin McCullough-Bade in the December 2005 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine. Today we remember Johann Konrad Wilhelm Loehe, renewer of the church, who died this day in 1872.

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