I must admit that I do have a habit of leaving things to the deadline. Take this article, there has been two months since the last one, and yet here I am writing it with the clock rapidly ticking towards the submission date. I know I am not alone in putting off doing a job when there is plenty of opportunity to do it in favour of doing it tomorrow. Which is why I was amused when I read this definition.
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tomorrow (noun)
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a mystical land where 99% of all human productivity, motivation and achievement is stored.
Tomorrow sounds like a great place. And it is for most of us. Tomorrow is a place where we can start afresh, have another go. Lamentations tells us that God’s mercies are new each day and we are invited to move forward, beyond the things that may have gone wrong today. Tomorrow is a place that is filled with opportunities to do something new, something great, something exciting.
For some though, tomorrow is a place of worry about how they will cope, what they will do or will they get through that next day. While we should not worry unduly about tomorrow, in Matthew’s gospel Jesus tells us “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” There are those in our neighbourhood who have real worries about tomorrow. Rising fuel and food prices and the uncertainty they bring, illness, poor mental health, isolation or simply loneliness can cause someone to dread tomorrow rather than looking forward to a day full of opportunity.
Just as God’s mercies are new every day, each morning we have a choice about how we will go through our today. I doubt any one of us can individually solve the cost-of-living crisis, please do if you can, but each of us could, just maybe, do something that will improve the day of someone. A smile, a helping hand, a quick chat, a shared meal. Whatever it is we can do in a day it may just allow someone to look forward to their tomorrow.
This article was first published in the Cherry News September 2022 edition.
