What are you waiting for?
What Are You Waiting For?
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I don’t spend my time well.
By this I mean that I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about stuff that either happened in the past, or hasn’t yet happened. Don’t get me wrong, I know I have to pay sufficient attention to past and future events to be able to plan and learn, but I get out of balance sometimes.
You’ve heard the saying “time is money”? Well, if time were money, it would be sort of like me buying a ticket for a concert that happened last year……. or buying a live Christmas tree in June.
Sometimes I will spend an entire week looking forward to the weekend. Occasionally I will notice that I have spent a whole bunch of weeks waiting for a holiday or vacation, or an opportunity of some kind.
What do I get as a return on my investment?
Usually disappointed. I mean think about it, when I spend a lot of time building up the idea of something in my mind, treating the awaited thing as if it is more important than the present moment, of course I’m going to be disappointed. Or, if I’ve been worrying over the past, I’m disappointed because I find I can do nothing to change it. I guess I need to give up my hopes for a better yesterday.
Then, to compound the loss, there is this thing the economists call opportunity cost. The time (and energy) I spend thinking about past and future means I am not actually living in the only time I actually do have, which is right now…..and I’ll never get this moment back! You see the problem.
As I’ve heard said before, having one foot in yesterday, and one foot in tomorrow leaves today in a very compromised position. (ok, that’s not exactly the way I heard it, but you probably get my meaning).
In Matthew 6:21 Jesus is recorded as saying “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”. I can tell what my treasure is, it is the thing I spend a lot of time thinking about. Even if what I think about is a bad thing, my expenditure of time toward it makes it a treasure to me. If I am “treasuring” yesterday or tomorrow, I can’t treasure today at the same time. If my heart is stuck in yesterday or tomorrow, I can’t put my heart into today, which is the only time I really have at all.
One more thing. Being at peace with yesterday and tomorrow helps me “stay in the now”, where life is.
Knowing God is in charge. Trusting Him, His love for me, and His omnipotent power to care for those He loves, these things give me peace with yesterday and tomorrow so I can live today.
“Heavenly Father, thank you for your son Jesus, and for giving me this day to live in. Please grant me the grace to trust in your love, power, and mercy, and to walk in that trust so I can live in today. Amen”
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