Live now... not later (Pt. 2)

This thought has been on my mind for a few months now, I wrote a similar, less detailed post a while back if you want to read it.  Live now... not later (Pt. 1)


Right now, I'm halfway through grad school.  I'll graduate in March and in May I am qualified to be a counselor with the company I currently work at.

I have spent the past three months thinking about what will happen a year from now.

Last night at church the pastor gave us this verse:

James 4:13-16Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not 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.”  As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.

That verse is so true in that our plans about what we'll do in the future, don't mean but so much.  We can't even be sure we'll wake up tomorrow.  My big plans for a year from now mean nothing.  I can't spend my whole next year focusing on what happens next summer.  Rather, I need to give my life fully to what I'm doing right now.

I'm about to head to work as I'm writing this... if I'm thinking about how awesome next year will be, then how hard will I try tonight when this is just something I'm waiting to end...

It's irresponsible of me to focus on the future this much.

It's irresponsible of me to not give my all to the kids I work with at Intercept.

It's irresponsible of me to not give myself fully to all the ministries I'm in from: 
where I live, to The Gray Haven Project, to the three churches I serve at, to my friends, and to my job.

Yeah, it's great to have an idea of where I'm going... but I'm spending so much time thinking about that idea, that I'm letting time slide by right now and I'm not giving it my all.

I've learned so much about myself lately.  This time of "waiting" has been so key in shaping who I am and who I will be in the human services field and in the kingdom of God.

Don't focus on tomorrow, rather, do the best you can today.