Yesterdays, todays and tomorrows

Like many I suppose, I live in a tension between pursuing the bigness of God’s will for my life, and doing daily chores that seem to have little to do with it.  I’m not all that bright, and I don’t see how some of the mundane things I do have anything to do with a grand purpose, plan, or direction.

I literally woke up this morning with a different perspective.

I found myself looking at the days of my life in three distinct catagories, with a meaning that is deeper than the passing of midnights.  Let me see if I can spell it out.

Yesterday is an experience on my list of experiences.  I remember feelings I had.  Things I did.  Mistakes I made.  Hugs I gave.  Stories I shared.  I remember the smell of the quesadillas I made on my grandma’s griddle last night.  I remember the flavor of the cookies I made for the friends we had over for dinner.  I remember the sounds of their 18-month-old as he communicated with us.  I remember the feeling I had in my heart when they left.

I remember talking about India.  I remember crying.

I remember seeing God’s Hand in my life and the lives of others.

Yesterday is in my list of experiences.

Tomorrow is not yet in a list of experiences.  Tomorrow is where my hope hangs.  I know that I will meet some people early in the morning and I will watch them serve God and one another.  I believe what they do will bring a smile on the Face of God and those of their friends.  I have hope that God will take my meager attempts at learning some piano gymnastics will glorify him and bring someone closer to him one week from now.  I believe God will take the sum total of all my words and actions, sift them out, and add in the other 98% to bring my children to health and maturity as they grow.  I have hope for my eternal life, because he offers a hope that doesn’t disappoint.

So… my experience lies in yesterday.  Hope lies in tomorrow.

Today.  Today.  What is today?

Today is my choice.  Today is where I exercise my freedom, either to gratify or to serve.  Today I lay on the couch because I have a screaming headache.  Today I play with my kids some silly game that makes them laugh at me.  Today I choose to write even though I don’t feel like it.  Today I practice discipline.  Today I love my wife.  Today I look for God, in early morning moments and in the mid-day mundane.

Today is choice.

Where then, is God’s will?

It seems to me that God works his will out in our tomorrow.  We don’t see it yet because we can’t see tomorrow.  It exists, somehow, but we can’t see it.  We are temporal,  He is eternal.  He sees the end from the beginning. (read this and this)  He is pulling things together, aligning opportunities, and crossing paths.   You and I can’t see them, but they are there.  We don’t know them yet, because they haven’t yet made it into our experiences.

Our yesterdays are filled with the realized plans of God.  We have seen miracles.  We have questioned his sovereignty.  We have weighed and measured and thought.  We have wrestled.  We have questions and we have a few answers.  We have read his word, seen his hand, known his voice, felt his touch.  We have felt his embrace in the arms of our friends and we have given that embrace to those who were in need of it.  In yesterdays we have seen the will of God.

But it is in tomorrow where it is planned.  Tomorrow is where he is working out details as he goes before.

Today, we write it with him.  We decide.  We choose.  We ignore or acknowledge.  We can surrender and make the greater choices, or we can succumb to self and choose quick gratification.  We can love, or we can legislate.  We can consecrate or condemn.  We can follow or flee him.  We can listen or we can lie.  Today we can cooperate with what we know of him, or we can counteract what he has prepared.

Today I choose.  If I choose well, I remember my experience from yesterday and desire to replicate the best and release the rest.  If I choose wisely, I lean towards the hope I have of tomorrow.  If I order my steps well, I walk towards the One I’ve seen and the One I long to resemble, because I resemble the one I most respect.

Today, we write a song.  What will it be about?

Today, we capture a snapshot.  What will be the angle?  The subject?

Today, we draw a map for those behind us.  What will be the destination?

Today, we take a journey.  Scenic?  Freeway?  Toll way?  County roads?

Today, we hold the pencil to write in the adjectives, verbs, and nouns in a story with an unwritten chapter.  It has a beginning, it has a plot.  It has a Greater Author who writes the Greater Moral.  My chapter is connected to yours.  We may share a sentence or two.

In our writing of today-the only choice we have-who will be the main character?

I am thankful for the experience of yesterday.  I rest confidently in the hope of tomorrow.  All this, and I myself have deliberately chosen to listen, consecrate, follow, cooperate with the Author of the Greatest Story ever told.  I’m writing my chapter into His-story, on purpose.

What are you doing with your yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows?