Living in the Future

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34 NIV)

Pastor Chad has really been looking forward to his vacation at the beach. He's been talking about it for the last couple of weeks at work and a couple of times I playfully reminded him that "you're not at the beach yet, so get back to work!" I know, though, that I am just as bad before a fun vacation. It's all I want to talk about and at least a week before, I am already there in my mind. It's the the same for many of us.

Living ahead into our vacation is fun. But we also do it with the not so fun things in our lives. It's called "worry." We hear rumors of layoffs at work and we immediately live in the future of "how will I pay my bills" and "where will I find a new job." We feel a new ache or pain and even before we see a doctor we are living in the future of chemo treatments or surgery.

I guess none of us are immune to this kind of living in the future either. Some of us are bigger worriers than others, but we all to it to one extent or another even though we know it gets us nowhere. A little living in the future is wise. It causes us to have a savings account for emergencies. It makes us go to the doctor. But living in the future to the extent that we can no longer enjoy today saps all the joy right out of our lives. There is always a possibility that tomorrow could hold some challenges, so if we are living in tomorrow, we are always going to be worried... and joyless. Even the anticipation of a fun vacation can be marred with worry about safe travel or our home being robbed while we are away.

Be wise with your planning, but tackle the challenges and troubles as they come. Don't ruin the joy that is yours today by worrying about something that may or may not happen tomorrow.

But if you are planning a fun vacation in the near futher, go ahead and live in that future just a little bit... as long as you get your work done too!

Father,
Many people are headed out for vacations in the next few months. Give them safe travel and fun recreation so that they may be recharged for their normal work and school routines. Amen.

Joys: bridal showers; needed rain; vacations past and future