I like to be organised.
I don't mean just a little bit organised, I mean completely, utterly, totally organised. I like to be prepared for a range of events; I like to anticipate alternative outcomes and I like to feel that I would know how to react or respond to each of them.
To this end, I am often thinking about the future - I will run through things in my mind which could occur tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or even several years from now.
I like to be prepared.
But sometimes this obsession with the future leads me to forget about what's going on right here, right now. I end up thinking so much about what might happen, that I forget to live in what is happening. I worry too much about tomorrow that I forget to enjoy today.
Jesus warns against this fretting about the future in his sermon on the mount. I love the beauty of this verse -
"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."
[Matthew 6:34 MSG]
The thing about tomorrow is that we have no idea what it will hold. And I can imagine a thousand different possibilities, but I won't know if I am right until they do - or don't - happen.
There is no point me fretting and worrying and 'preparing', and wasting time doing all of these things, when I don't know if the things I am preparing for will actually come to pass.
Instead, I want to learn to give my entire attention to God right now - to live in today and to entrust tomorrow to Him.
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