“Are we there yet?”
If you have children or were ever a child (haha, I say that latter part sarcastically), then you can admit to hearing or saying this phrase.
Come to think of it, my family hasn’t really gone on a lot of long road trips or flights so the anticipation of arriving at a destination has not been much.
However, the two times we’ve gone to Disneyland or driven to the Bay Area, my two oldest were bursting with anticipation and impatience that that question was on repeat for a good while.
Since becoming a Christian, I’ve had thoughts about what it would be like to be in Heaven in the presence of my Heavenly Father. I’ve read about the streets of gold and the mansions He is preparing. But to be in His presence – WOW, that will be a holy time, for sure.
We live in a world when instant gratification is prevalent. Our technology just keeps improving. Our access to so many things can be made in just a few clicks. We can have food delivered to us through UBER or Door Dash. I mean, wow! We are more fortunate than we care to admit at times.
Although these are great and convenient in a lot of ways, they can become hinderances rather than helps.
The BIG questions for today are:
Are we living for “the now” or “the later?”
Are we living for today or for tomorrow?
If you’re like me, you could easily respond with “Both; I’m living for today and tomorrow.”
But I wanted to go a little deeper.
Without today, there is no tomorrow. Without “now” there is no “later.” You see, we often focus on the future. We try to plan ahead so that our future isn’t filled with the unexpected.
But did you know that the Bible and might I add, written in red letters (meaning Jesus said them) reminds us to not worry about tomorrow? In fact, we shouldn’t even think about tomorrow.
“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” — Matthew 6:34
We are to live each day as if it were our last, simply because we are not promised tomorrow.
As cliche as that may sound, it’s true.
I mean, most of us will probably admit that one day is not enough to complete all we need to do.
So before we can determine what we are living for, we must know when we are living.
Many times, our mistake is living in the past and living for tomorrow that we neglect to live our todays.
If you have been living out your todays, good for you. But don’t get stuck there that you forget to dream about tomorrow.
If you’ve been stuck in the past, it’s time to wake up. The past is the past. You can’t change it but you sure can learn from it and make a different tomorrow.
If you’ve been so excited about the future that you have all these goals as plans, but they haven’t been executed, then what are you waiting for? You can dream big but those dreams will remain just that – Dreams. Instead, make them into reality.
“Today is the tomorrow you talked about yesterday.” – Unknown
Why not make today matter? After all, tomorrow may never come.
“We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.” – Stacia Tauscher
If relationships will matter most then, shouldn’t they matter most now?” Max Lucado
A goal without a plan is just a wish. How true is this?!? I can say that I’m a big dreamer and I am a great starter but sometimes, I don’t execute the plans to my goals, thus causing me not to finish what I started. And I am positive that I am not the only one out there who is like this. But I don’t want to be remembered as a great starter. More importantly, I want to be known as someone who finished strong.
My recent blog post, Someday v. Today was a short one but I talked about how so often we focus on the “somedays” in our lives and neglect the “todays”. We might even say things to ourselves like, “I’ll accomplish that someday” or “I’ll take care of that tomorrow.”
Why can’t it be done TODAY? What is hindering us from accomplishing what is necessary today? What makes us think that we have tomorrow?
Maybe we’ve had great successes in the past but we cannot live in those.
Maybe we’ve failed in the past but we cannot allow those failures to define who we are or what we are capable of doing or becoming.
Maybe you’re just stuck in a rut right now. You have the desire and the passion and the will but don’t know what the next step is. Can I encourage you to keep seeking, keep learning, and keep striving for improvement?
Most dreams don’t become reality overnight. Most goals cannot be accomplished overnight. So in the meantime, keep working on yourself. Keep being teachable. Keep serving and giving back in any way you can. And remember, everything that you do can either help you reach your goals or hinder you from receiving the blessings that are waiting for you.
So yes, we should be living for both the HERE and NOW as well as the THERE and THEN. But we cannot do the latter — we cannot see dreams turned into reality, goals accomplished, or blessings that await if we are not prioritizing what is NOW, what is HERE, and what is TODAY.
Don’t waste TODAY! God has given you another day for a reason. Let Him guide you and allow others to teach you.
Featured Image by Fallon Michael on Unsplash
Making Today Matter 