I Hear Tomorrow Coming

Elton Trueblood enjoyed telling the story of his 95-year-old Quaker aunt—who purchased a new carpet for her apartment and insisted on a 25-year warranty.  Why not?  Someone said, I don’t know who, that tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming.  

I hear tomorrow coming and I hope it will find me alive and kicking just as Elton’s 95-year old aunt hoped for another 25-years to enjoy her new carpet!  I have made plans for many tomorrows—for April, for May, June and July and right on through the year 2019.  I’m looking forward to a tomorrow 193 days from today!  On that tomorrow  I plan to travel to Europe with my wife and three of my siblings and their mates.  We’ve just worked out the details and we are all set to visit Paris and the Swiss Alps.  Naturally we’ve all purchased trip insurance!  At this stage of the game, my hearing could be failing me and when I think I am hearing tomorrow coming—I might be hearing something entirely different.

There are many who will want to remind me of what the Bible says about dealing with tomorrow.  Didn’t Jesus tell us not to worry or deal with tomorrow? I’m not worried about tomorrow—I’m excited about it!   I know, too, what James 4:13-15 has to say:  Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there…”. Why you don’t even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say,  “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”  What does this mean?    How am I to know what the Lord wills?  Does anyone know? Does it mean, don’t plan anything—don’t schedule anything—don’t dream of creating something—because, after all, you are just a “mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes?”  I want to make the most of my “little while” (all the tomorrows remaining for me) and not spend my time considering my “vanishing.”  

I’m familiar with that oft-parroted phrase from Robert Burns:  “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”  I know that has happened in my own experiences, both in  the past and present, and I know plans will probably go awry in my tomorrows, too.  What matter?  Forge ahead.  Plan to do something tomorrow.  Listen for tomorrow’s coming and fill it with your dreams, your hopes and aspirations.  Abraham was 75-years-old when he went in search of a new land.  Moses was 80 years-old when he led his people into the wilderness.  If you hear tomorrow coming—live it to the hilt, live  it abundantly.

Just can't wait to get on the road again...tomorrow,
tomorrow..You're always just a day a way!