Sufficient unto the day

There's a lot of talk about "living in the moment."  This is difficult to do.  Here's an example of what I mean.  We were on our way to an event with some friends.  I was driving and the light I ran turned bright red before I managed to get through the intersection.  Unfortunately, it was one of those intersections that has a camera and a warning sign.  My dear husband (who recently got caught by camera going too fast in a school zone, paid a large fine, and can thus be forgiven for being just a little testy when I ran the red light) began to obsess about the fact that I was going to get a ticket, we were going to have to pay a large fine, this was really awful, and was beginning to ruin the possibility of a fun evening. 

I said to him, "Don't let it RUIN the day and the fun we're about to have." 

His response was "But what if you get a TICKET?"  And I responded with what I think was brilliant clarity:  "Let it ruin THAT DAY instead!" 

I have been thinking a lot about that exchange and my statement and how truly Biblical it really was.  I was raised on the King James Version of the Bible and here is the text:

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof.  (KJV Matthew 6:34)  A newer version says:  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own. (NIV)

A line from Percy Bysshe Shelley, Sufficient Unto the Day, says:   Is not to-day enough?  Why do I peer into the darkness of the day to come?

Oh, and by the way, I haven't received that dreaded ticket in the mail -- yet!  I will let it ruin THAT day if it does indeed come!

(Photo by dagring, shared via Flickr)