Wishing for Tomorrow

We certainly can excuse children looking past early December to Christmas. And we can’t begrudge a bride counting off days to her wedding or a soldier calculating the weeks until his safe discharge. We easily understand a patient recovering from an illness anticipating a healthier near future.

But what about the rest of us? Where does this come from, the incessant wish that a certain day will be here, that tomorrow will bring something better, or that the sun can not set fast enough because, well, “Tomorrow we are ____________________________.”

Wishing for tomorrow can come from discontent.
Wishing for tomorrow can come from impatience.
Wishing for tomorrow can come from fatigue.
Wishing for tomorrow can come from fear.
Wishing for tomorrow can come even from faith, hope, and love.

But whenever this wish consumes us, whatever its origin, we are in danger of missing the blessings of today. Oh, we’ll still have the blessings, for they are ours, but we may not see them, much less savor and enjoy them. We are too busy calculating tomorrow’s.

Jesus lived in the present moments of His life, and while quite aware of what awaited Him in His final hours, filled those present moments with prayer, thanksgiving, and joyful awareness of His Father’s pleasure. He was never so preoccupied with a destination or appointment that He failed to stop to heal or give a comforting word. He was fully present in His present.

“Give us this day our daily bread. . . Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. . . As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming. . .” Matthew 6:11, 34; John 9:4

Time, as they say, marches on. And of course, God made us to anticipate and enjoy thoughts of a better future. That is what hope is about. But when tomorrow becomes today, will we greet it with full joy if we did not embrace the previous “today”?

What if, instead of, “I can hardly wait ’til tomorrow,” we breathed Psalm 118:24, “This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it,” regardless of tomorrow.

Like Jesus, we can best look forward to the joys before us as we walk by faith today.

“Father, we thank you not only for our daily bread, but our day’s challenges and even it’s pain. For we know that once it is gone, we will never again be able to seize its unique opportunities to trust and enjoy You. Help us to dwell in our present moments with You, in the name of Jesus, Amen.”


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