The answers I don't have will be found in living out the answer I do have.

​Reflecting on those words this morning from Matthew McConaughey, I asked myself this question. How do I want to approach life today? Not how do I want to deal with my yesterdays. Not where do I want to be tomorrow. But how do I want to approach my life this day. The one right in front of me.

I was struck by the reality that if I approach life today the right way, in a healthy way, in a way that lines up with who I know I want and need to be, where I've been and where I want to go, well they start to take care of themselves.

To heal from yesterday, I need to approach this day in a healing way.

To be who I want to be tomorrow, I have to approach life today in a way that allows me to be my best me today.

In running, I can get focused on the big races. The big personal best performances. The finish lines. All the exciting tomorrows that make the running I do today all worth it in the end.

Yet, they can also be the tomorrows that make the running I do today completely meaningless. Joyless. I can get so focused on the runner I want to be in the end that I miss out on the chance to celebrate the runner I am today.

I think sometimes I do that on purpose. Focusing on future goals that are not guaranteed is easier than tackling the guarantee that I can absolutely put in the work that makes me the runner I want to be today.

Focusing on who I want to be someday is far easier than tackling life like I'm already that person today.

I think about it in terms of my faith. How much time I spend contemplating the God from which I came, and the God to which I am going. Who is he or she? And who and what on earth am I in that equation?

The reality is, though, contemplating the answers to the questions of my faith that are unanswerable is much easier than responding to the answer I already have.

God is relatively vague when it comes to defining where I came from and where I'm going in life. But he's explicit about how I am to approach life.

Love. He's made it clear that if I love the people around me - all of them - then where I came from and where I'm going will take care of itself. The answers I don't have will be found in living out the answer I do have.

God's made it clear that my approach to life IS the destination in my life. He's made it clear that joy is found in approaching life the right way today and not some reward down the road if the sum of my approaches happens to land me in just the right place.

So today, as you move through your check boxes, to-do lists, start writing out your goals for 2021, create vision boards with your teams - stop. Stop and consider how you want to approach life today.

There's no joy guaranteed at some finish line down the road. Joy is found in the destination. And the only destination you have guaranteed to you today is how you approach this day right here.

The one right in front of you. Right here. Right now.