TOMORROW
Scripture: Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth (Proverbs 27:1 NKJV).
Amateur poets often write about “tomorrow,” probably because it rhymes with “sorrow.” Philosophers talk as if it were a mountain we could conquer if we just make it through today. Educators teach children to prepare for tomorrow by doing their best today. But all of us have known instant, world-shattering change that erased all our preparations. Unexpected change comes without warning to turn our dreams into nightmares and our tomorrows into devastating tsunamis.
On one terrible day in 1986, a routine chest X-ray showed cancer in my husband’s chest. The bright tomorrows Tommy and I had planned were not to be. From that moment, every “today” became precious. Love he’d been too busy to express, he now shared with me and his sons. Those words carried us all through the “tomorrows” we thought we could not bear.
I would give the world for one more “today.” I’d like to play dominoes again until the wee hours. I’d like him to read stories again to our grandchildren while I doze in my recliner. I’d like to go fishing with him again, even if we never caught a fish. I wish his great-grandchildren could know him. But his legacy of love lives on, because he spent his “todays” well.
Each moment of today is a jewel, to be used as God Himself guides. As the beautiful hymn reminds us, “I don’t know about tomorrow . . . but I know Who holds my hand.” May my own journal, whether written on paper or only my heart, show that I spent today lovingly and well.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, may I please you in the way I use these priceless moments today.
One of the benefits of keeping a journal is to be able to look back and see progress (or lack thereof) toward my goals. I searched my entry for January 1, 2016, and found some excellent resolutions (from “Board of Wisdom—Ten Ways to Love).” Listen without interrupting (Proverbs 18). Speak without accusing (James 1:19). Give without sparing (Proverbs […]
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