You have today. Nothing else is promised, but you do have today.

One of the most likely times for me to get sentimental is when I’m putting my 5–year-old to sleep. I know it’s such a fleeting moment in which he wants me to lay beside him as he falls asleep. It won’t be long before he just goes to bed (or before I go to bed before him). (See: Silas on the Sybil War, Col. Sanders, and Peeing Crooked)

But this is our time. He wants me there and I want to be there.

Tonight he was in a reflective mood. It wasn’t his best day. He wasn’t bad, but he was more whiny and demanding than his parents wanted him to be. It led to many conversations, a few timeouts, and more than one emotional breakdown which caused him to run to his room to cry. As he drifted off to sleep, he was thinking back over his day.

“I’m so fragile,” he said. (See: Recognize Your Child’s Pain)

I stifled my laugh. “You aren’t fragile,” I encouraged, “You are 5. You do good things and make good choices. Every now and then you don’t, but that will be true for the rest of your life.”

Finally his guilt subsided and he drifted off to sleep. As he slept, I began to reflect as well. He has so much to learn and I have so little time. The enormity of parenting can feel overwhelming at times. It’s a scary world and every day he is becoming more of it. There is much to be done to prepare him for life.

It feels like I don’t have everything I need to be a good Dad.

But one thing I do have—I have today.

It’s not enough to do all which needs to be done. It won’t make and break either of our lives. But it is important and it is the one thing I have.

It’s the one thing we all have.

Whatever we want to accomplish, we have been given today to make strides toward our task.

Is your marriage in shambles? What step can you take today to fix it? (See: Change Your Marriage Today)

Is your career plateaued? What’s one conversation you can have today to jump start it?

Is your spiritual life dead? What’s one thing you can do today to rediscover faith?

Is a relationship broken? What can you do today toward reconciling? (See: Never Give Up On People)

It doesn’t seem like much and it’s probably not nearly enough, but we make a grave mistake when we underestimate the opportunity we have been given.

We may not have all that we want, but there is one thing we have—we have today.