Day by Day

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt 6:34)

That verse above is a familiar one – most of us have heard it may times over. It’s such an easy concept, but putting it into practice can be so hard. I know there are lost of us who think we don’t worry excessively about tomorrow, but there is another aspect of this that most of us are guilty of. That is working for tomorrow.

Work is good. In fact, work is a Divine institution. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15) Paul writes that if someone isn’t willing to work, they shouldn’t eat..(2 Thessalonians 3:10-12) When we work, we need to have the proper attitude and focus. (Col 3:23) God commanded for us to work with all our might. (Ecclesiastes 9:9-10) But God doesn’t want us to focus so much on work that it consumes us to the point that we forget about people and relationships around us.

Sue Shellenbarger, “Work & Family” columnist for The Wall Street Journal, wrote a column about the ‘tomorrow trap’—a kind of mirage that people chase while in reality they are burying themselves in work and other pursuits.” She wrote of people who, she says, “essentially live for the future, taking refuge in visions of a relaxed, rewarding personal and family life somewhere down the road.” She calls this “the ‘tomorrow trap’—a kind of mirage that people chase while in reality they are burying themselves in work and other pursuits.”

We work and toil for 40 years of our life to save for a retirement that will happen “someday.” We’re working when we are our healthiest to save money for when we will be less able to enjoy money and time rather than living for today.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that working and saving aren’t good goals, but they need to have the proper perspective. Many of us who say our families are important don’t live as if they are.

Tomorrow is promised to no one. Are we devaluing today in favor of an imagined tomorrow that may never come? The only way to escape the “tomorrow trap” is to find room for the present in today.

Don’t be so focused on tomorrow that you forget to spend time enjoying those around you today.