A new school year dawning...on an absolutely spectacular fall-like day, I might add. We're down to two still at home--a 7th grader and a senior higher. We have no idea what this year may hold for us...but we know Who holds this year. But, oh my, it's tempting to look ahead, isn't it? What will happen if...how will we handle it if...what will we do if...what if...what if...what if?
Can you, can anyone, ever know the answer to that question? Of course not. None of us has the foggiest idea even what tomorrow might bring. So what's the point in asking unknowable, unanswerable, and unprofitable questions? Seriously. Who does that ever help?
Here's what I know--those "if's"never help prepare us for the future.
Those "if's" divert our focus from where it should be (hint: our Savior! "...looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith" Heb.12:2).
Those "if's" greatly diminish the strength we need for this day's challenges.
Those "if's" inevitably give birth to fear. (I once heard Beth Moore comment that the letters in the word "if" could stand for "I fear." Yep.)
And those "if's" rob the present moment of all it's joy and peace. Is that any way to live? Is that really how we want to run our race--nervous, jumpy, uncertain, and joyless? No thank you.
Here's what I'm thinking: those "if's" need to be banished! And when they creep into our thoughts and into our vocabulary, how about we replace them with a simple phrase, like "faithfulness today." 'Cause here's the deal--God has called us to be faithful today. Right where He's planted us. To love the people He's placed in our paths today. To do what He's called us to do today. To trust Him, obey Him, and seek to bring Him glory with our lives, today. To run the race set before us today as faithfully and fully as we know how ("let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" Heb.12:1).
And to trust God that when tomorrow comes, He'll give us the strength, love, grace and wisdom to be faithful with tomorrow's challenges as well. Faithfulness today.
For those of us feeling sad or anxious about children growing up and moving away, here's what "faithfulness today" looks like: Let's stop worrying about what will happen when our babies graduate from high school and we're empty nesters. They're still here now, aren't they? Well then, love them, teach them, encourage them, care for them with everything you've got today...and trust that God will have different--but still wonderful and exciting plans--for you when they've flown the coop for college.
Or if you're stuck in the trenches of seemingly endless diaper changing and exhausting, non-stop mothering of pre-schoolers, stop wishing today away in the quest for some imaginary future filled with time, sleep, relaxation, and applause for your work. No! God's given you today...the opportunity in this never-to-be-repeated moment to influence, shape, and love these little eternal souls, and to do it to His glory, with faithfulness today.
Whether it's being a wife or husband, a parent or a child, a sibling or a friend, a worker or a boss...do whatever God's called you to do with faithfulness today, entrusting the results and the future to Him.
I love how Martin Luther once put it: "There are only two days on my calendar: this day and that day."
This day, meaning the 24 hours right here before us. The gift of this day that God has given us. And that day, meaning that glorious day when Christ returns, and we all stand before Him face to face. If we're faithful each day with this day, then we can anticipate that day with joy, peace, and excitement. And if we're practicing faithfulness today, then we're running our race in such a way that one day, we'll hear those beautiful words from the lips of our Redeemer, "Well done, good and faithful servant...Enter into the joy of your Master." (Mt.25:21)
No more "I.F"--"I fear." Instead, it's "F.T."--"faithfulness today." To God be the glory.
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