‘Today is a Verb’: The Actions that Make Up a Lifetime

It’s a common sentiment that our lives are made up of moments, which create days, which create months, years and ultimately our lifetime.

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How much attention do we give to the way we approach those moments though, and whether we’re building a life framed around Jesus’ teachings?

Carol McLeod has been studying the impact of daily spiritual discipline, and suggests our lives are defined by the verbs we implement in them.

At a recent doctors visit Carol was told the way she was walking affected her health – a “dreaded shuffle” had appeared – making her conscious of the other “postures” that affect wellbeing.

“I don’t want to shuffle through life,” Carol said.

“I don’t want to be caught in a quagmire of circumstances, or just meddle in the mundane every day.

“I want to ‘happen’ to life rather than life simply happening to me.”

From celebrating to encouraging, remembering to forgiving and surrendering, Carol’s book Today is a Verb draws on the life of Jesus highlighting attitudes dictating our behaviour and with that, who we become.

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Carol McLeod has been studying the impact of daily spiritual discipline.

“In the book of Acts it says Jesus went about doing good,” Carol said.

“That is a great challenge to all of us: what good can I do today?

“Jesus came to reveal to us how we can live.

“What He did was calm storms, He raised the dead, he prayed for the sick, he met people’s needs.

“Maybe that’s what I’m supposed to do too: calm people’s storms, pray for the sick, going about doing good and being generous with everything that I have.”

Today is a Verb draws on the life of Jesus highlighting attitudes dictating our behaviour and with that, who we become.

On hard days, choosing the verb of “rejoicing” or “believing” becomes an even more powerful act.

“It’s almost a defiance, a rebellion against [negative] emotions,” Carol said.

“We all have bad days, we all have bad seasons [but] it’s time for us to open our Bibles and say, ‘Jesus I need you’.

“I need your power, I need your strength, to live this life you’ve given me.”

Looking at difficulties experienced in our own lives, or the world at large, gives us even more reason to be attentive to what’s influencing our actions.

“The state that the world is in today could cause all of us to just want to find the closest cave and hibernate there,” Carol said.

Listen to the full episode of UNDISTRACTED with guest Carol McLeod wherever you get your podcasts.

“But what I learned from studying church history is that every generation has had to make this same resolve: to decide that ‘I’m going to rise above what’s happening in the culture, in my circumstances, and I’m going to sing and rejoice’.”

“God has given us our lives to do with what we choose to,” Carol said.

“[But] what makes our lives extremely powerful is when we say to the Lord, ‘thank you for my life, thank you that you’ve given me air to breathe and my heart that pumps blood, but Lord my life is yours, and today I’m giving it back to you’.

“That’s the strongest way to approach the life we’ve been given.”

Carol McLeod’s book Today is a Verb is out now.

Listen to the full episode of UNDISTRACTED with guest Carol McLeod in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.

Featured image: book cover supplied and used with permission