Only for Today is a musical tribute to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, affectionately known as the Little Flower, who devoted her life to loving Christ, trusting in God’s mercy, and caring for others through simple acts of kindness. Inspired by her Little Way and her poetry, the song tells her story from childhood vulnerability through spiritual transformation, self-offering, and perseverance through suffering and spiritual darkness. Her life reminds us that holiness does not come from our own greatness or strength, but from God’s grace, which teaches us to love Him and others faithfully, one day at a time.
Original Composition
The original composition brings together lyrics, melody, instrumentation, and arrangement to express personal experiences, observations, and reflections drawn from different seasons of life. Each work develops its own musical character, conveying meaning through both direct expression and the subtleties of imagery, symbolism, and interpretation.
Only for Today
Mother’s voice was gone too soon
After her, the house grew still
Restless tears came easily
Till one Christmas broke their hold
In the quiet I was lifted
Not by strength I called my own
That stair rose farther than my strength
I could not climb alone
I held my empty hands to You
And trusted You to lift me home
Only for today
Let me love You in the small things
Only for today
Let the hidden hours be Yours
Not the years I cannot promise
Not the strength I do not own
Every petal, every sorrow
At Your feet, and Yours alone
I dreamed of distant roads to serve
Of all I could not be
Then in the heart of all those callings
Love made a place for me
Only for today
Let me love You in the small things
Only for today
Let the hidden hours be Yours
Not the years I cannot promise
Not the strength I do not own
Every petal, every sorrow
At Your feet, and Yours alone
I laid my life before Your mercy
A little flame against the night
And when the thought of heaven darkened
And faith moved forward without sight
I did not conquer that deep silence
Or make the shadows fall away
I only gave You what was left me
The love I had, for one more day
Only for today
Let me love You in the small things
Only for today
Let the hidden hours be Yours
Not the years I cannot promise
Not the strength I do not own
Every petal, every sorrow
At Your feet, and Yours alone
Only for today
Through all I cannot see
Teach this heart to love.
The acrostic MARTIN is written into the first paragraph of this composition.
“Story of a Soul” (“L’Histoire d’une Âme”) is an autobiographical work by St. Thérèse of Lisieux (Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin), a Carmelite nun and one of the most venerated figures in modern Catholicism. The book was published posthumously in 1898, a year after her death from tuberculosis at the age of 24.
Thérèse was born on January 2, 1873, in Alençon, France, and passed away on September 30, 1897, in Lisieux, France. Compiled from manuscripts she left behind, her spiritual autobiography aims to present the ‘little way’ of Thérèse, a path to God through simplicity, humility, and a boundless trust in divine providence. This book is about the story of a little flower. A saint of the little way. My commemoration of her life: The Story of a Soul
