{"id":41224,"date":"2026-08-05T22:44:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T05:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?post_type=portfolio&p=41224"},"modified":"2026-08-05T22:50:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T05:50:58","slug":"2026-gift","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2026-gift\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gift of Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Before my daughter\u2019s\u00a0Bat Mitzvah,<\/em>\u00a0I took her on a heritage trip to Ukraine, where many great rabbis once lived. I wanted her to connect with Jewish wisdom and see for herself how ancient teachings can be so relevant to our lives today.<\/p>\n

One of the rabbis whose life and teachings we explored was Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, a Hasidic master in the eighteenth century. He once said, \u201cIn this world, a person has only the very day and very moment in which he finds himself. Tomorrow is a completely different world.\u201d In other words, today is an entire world unto itself. Tomorrow, it will be gone, and another one will take its place. Every moment, each day, is a precious gift we dare not squander.<\/p>\n

Jewish sages taught that each day has its own \u201cspark\u201d\u2014its own opportunities and challenges; its own potential for greatness and also for failure; the possibility for new blessings and also, heaven forbid, for curses. Once the day is done, that spark is gone forever, and with it, all the options and opportunities that were open to us at just that very morning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s\u00a0Torah<\/em>\u00a0portion begins: \u201cSee, I am setting before you\u00a0today<\/strong>\u00a0a blessing and a curse\u2014the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you\u00a0today<\/strong>.<\/em>\u201d In these verses, the word \u201ctoday\u201d could have easily been omitted and the verses would have had the same general meaning. Yet, the word is used not once, but twice, in order to stress the importance of this very day.<\/p>\n

Every day is an opportunity to choose God, obedience, and blessings. It does not matter how righteous I was yesterday. I need to choose God all over again today. In the same way, it doesn\u2019t matter how miserably I failed yesterday. Today is a new day, and I can make better choices and be a righteous person.<\/p>\n

Friends, let\u2019s choose God today and every day. Make this day count; make it one that draws down blessings. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is yet to come, and today is a gift. As the psalmist reminds us, \u201cThis is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it<\/em>\u201d (Psalms 118:24 ESV)!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before my daughter\u2019s\u00a0Bat Mitzvah,\u00a0I took her on a heritage trip to Ukraine, where many great rabbis once lived. I wanted her to connect with Jewish wisdom and see for herself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-41224","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/41224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/41224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41228,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/41224\/revisions\/41228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41224"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=41224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}