Today has been another one of those "weather warning" days, in which we are warned exhaustively about a great storm that is coming our way. Schools close, businesses send people home, evening activities are cancelled throughout the area. Over the years, I have seen many of these. Almost all of them have turned out to be much ado about nothing, but what can one do? Even with radio and early television, we did not have such warnings many years ago. Weather was always a surprise to us. You knew the weather when you awoke in the morning, not the night before. We lived much more in "today" and much less in "tomorrow," even in such little things.
In fact, of course, we now live much of our life in "tomorrow." We must plan for our retirements and for future college costs. We must make plans to have our money in the "right places" so we can maximize our health options when we are old. As an attorney, I spend a lot of time helping people prepare for things that may or may not happen. It is just part of our life.
When we move to our spiritual lives, are we not often the same? We plan youth outings, for example, and, each year, we try to make them more exciting for people to anticipate. We do everything we can to create anticipation for these future events. Often, we advertise them as if they will be "storms" in people's lives, changing them forever. Then, next year, we do the same, planning something bigger, advertising something bigger, promising a lifetime change.
Yet, nothing really changes. We keep waiting for the storm to hit. We keep planning retreats and seminars and conferences and "revivals" and all manner of events. We keep sending youth to these things, and attending them ourselves, at great expense, spending more for retreats than we do for mission work. But the storm does not come.
I think, sometimes, we would be better off to give up waiting for storms and begin, instead, to live for today. To stop planning for next year's conference and, instead, to make this week's Sunday School class meaningful. To stop working so hard to advertise next month's retreat and spend more time proclaiming the eternal truth, which is ready to be heard today, no matter what day it is. The future, after all, is something no man can see. As Ecclesiastes tells us, in chapter 8, verse 17, "However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out."
Are you ready for your youth (or yourself) to do something "great" next month? Why not today, instead?
In fact, of course, we now live much of our life in "tomorrow." We must plan for our retirements and for future college costs. We must make plans to have our money in the "right places" so we can maximize our health options when we are old. As an attorney, I spend a lot of time helping people prepare for things that may or may not happen. It is just part of our life.
When we move to our spiritual lives, are we not often the same? We plan youth outings, for example, and, each year, we try to make them more exciting for people to anticipate. We do everything we can to create anticipation for these future events. Often, we advertise them as if they will be "storms" in people's lives, changing them forever. Then, next year, we do the same, planning something bigger, advertising something bigger, promising a lifetime change.
Yet, nothing really changes. We keep waiting for the storm to hit. We keep planning retreats and seminars and conferences and "revivals" and all manner of events. We keep sending youth to these things, and attending them ourselves, at great expense, spending more for retreats than we do for mission work. But the storm does not come.
I think, sometimes, we would be better off to give up waiting for storms and begin, instead, to live for today. To stop planning for next year's conference and, instead, to make this week's Sunday School class meaningful. To stop working so hard to advertise next month's retreat and spend more time proclaiming the eternal truth, which is ready to be heard today, no matter what day it is. The future, after all, is something no man can see. As Ecclesiastes tells us, in chapter 8, verse 17, "However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out."
Are you ready for your youth (or yourself) to do something "great" next month? Why not today, instead?
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