What Do We Get to Do Today, Abba?

Louisa Ikena reflects on the excitement and adventure of being open to collaboration and cooperation with our Heavenly Father, Who is truly our Abba.

What needs to be done today, Abba? Or even better—what do we get to do today, Abba? What do we get to do versus what do I have to do? I perceive life is meant to be so much more than individual to-do lists to check off. 

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!” (Romans 8:15)  

I’ve heard Abba translated affectionally as “Daddy” or “Dad.”  

Every moment of life is a gift from our Heavenly Father. How am I using that precious gift today? 

It's about time

While I do not feel led to take a “to-the-second” time inventory, perhaps an hour one could be enlightening. When I account for the housekeeping of living (like time eating a sleeping) and my obligations (like work and connection time with family and friends), how am I spending my unscheduled time? I find that not all distractions are bad, but are better when I consciously choose them. 

Time is one way in which all of us are equal. We each get 24 hours today. Yet that 24 hours is nuanced with how much time we need to take for mere survival and how much leisure time we have today. Either way, the only healthy choice for me lies in offering up my time to God. I’ve been given time as a sheer gift. I choose to begin each day praying, “Lord, help me to remember that nothing is going to happen to me today that You and I can’t handle together.” 

When I remember that I am meant to work in cooperation with God, things start to flow. God and I are on the same team; I‘m just the one who often forgets that. There is nothing that’s going to happen to me today that we can’t handle together. God is God, and I am His beloved daughter. “I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me” (Philippians 4:13).

Gratitude abounds

When I consult with God, through prayer and meditation, with what we get to do today, I feel genuinely excited about the adventure of it all. It’s like being on a vacation and asking with bated breath, "What do we get to do today?" Even when the work before me to do truly feels like work, the adventure of it remains because I got to do it with the Creator of the cosmos who somehow loves me and has chosen me, of all people, to be exactly where I am right here, right now. What a gift! Gratitude pours out of me. My cup overflows! 

God wants me to cry out and address Him as Abba/Father/Dad. Dad, thank You for the gift of today. Help me to ask with open heart, one day at a time, “What do we get to do today, Abba?” 

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Copyright 2024 Louisa Ann Irene Ikena
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