From
A Grandma’s Perspective …..
Tomorrow
 |
Sometimes
simple questions have very hard to understand answers.
It was one of those times when 4 year-old Emily asked me “When is
tomorrow?” My first
response was “tomorrow never comes.”
I could tell by the puzzled look on her face that I needed to come
up with a more sensible answer. As
I tried to intelligently answer the question, I found myself stumbling
over a jumble of confusing words. “Tomorrow
is the day after today except it never comes so when tomorrow comes the
next day is tomorrow.” Fortunately
for me the answer satisfied her desire for more knowledge without further
questions!
My
mind began to ponder the elusive tomorrow.
If it never comes, why do I fret and worry so much about it coming? Jesus
had a few things to say about worrying
and obsessing over the basic needs of life.
He said, “But
seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things
will be added to you. Do not
worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
(Matthew 6: 33-34) James said we should not boost about our plans for tomorrow, what we will do, where we will go or the profits we will earn. “You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” (James 4: 14-15) |
The
Preacher in Ecclesiastes struggled with the vanity of life. He too fumbled for
words, “Nor
will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come
after”
(Ecclesiastes 1:11) and “that
which is has already been, and what is to be has already been; and God requires
an account of the past.” (Ecclesiastes
3:15).
In
1950 Ira Stamphill very eloquently penned the words to the following song:
I don’t know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day.
I don’t borrow from its sunshine, for its skies may turn
to gray.
I don’t worry o’er the future, for I know what Jesus
said,
And today I’ll walk beside Him, for He knows what is
ahead.
Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow, And I know who holds my
hand.
Maybe I will
wait until tomorrow to worry.
By
Pat Hertzler
April
11, 2004