By Chris WittsSaturday 30 Nov 2013Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Don’t wait ’til tomorrow to find contentment:
The Spanish language has a very useful word – mañana. It means ‘tomorrow’ and is used in a straightforward way alongside the words ayer (yesterday) and hoy (today). But a visitor to South America soon discovers that it also means any time but tomorrow! So when someone says they’ll do something mañana it may well mean you’ll be waiting weeks or months. More likely,it will never get done because mañana never comes.
In English,we tend to say “I’ll get around to it sometime”. The result of this attitude can be seen in houses that don’t get painted,backyards that look like jungles or junkyards and repairs around the home that never get done. Procrastination,putting off tasks and actions until a later date,seems to be a malady that affects many of us. We just don’t get around to doing some of the things we really need to do,for a variety of reasons.
The Bible gives plenty of encouragement to ‘seize the day’ in spiritual matters. The writer of Psalm 118 insists ‘this is the day that the Lord has made – let us rejoice and be glad in it’. There is no need to wait until tomorrow to be contented. We can be content today. Tomorrow we may have more money,or more free time,or more things around for us to enjoy,but God made today to enjoy and to rejoice in His love and provision.
The Latin phrase carpe diem – seize the day – is often extended to mention the possibility of death,as in ‘seize the day,for tomorrow you may die’. While that may seem morbid or pessimistic,there is a measure of truth to it. We need to make the most of each day because life is not guaranteed to us for tomorrow.
This is the day – and there’s no better time to enjoy who we are in God:
The phrase ‘eat,drink and be merry,for tomorrow we die’ comes from combining several passages in the Bible (Ecclesiastes 8:15,Isaiah 22:13 and 1 Corinthians 15:32) to describe people whose sole focus is on enjoying today.
A modern version of the phrase is: ‘life is short – party hard’. The inference is that we should indulge ourselves and get everything we can out of life without a thought for the future. This is not the Christian view. We are encouraged to put all we can into each day in serving others,in developing ourselves spiritually,mentally,physically and emotionally,and in enjoying our life in the world God gave us and with the people around us. That makes for a full and satisfying today,and a tomorrow without regrets.
Tomorrow can be a sad word,when the hoped-for tomorrow doesn’t come or isn’t quite what we expected. Shakespeare’s Macbeth responds to the news of his wife’s death with words of regret for what might have been said or done,if only he’d known. His words carry a sense of despair and fatalism:
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow,and tomorrow,and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out,out,brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow,a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot,full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.
(Act 5,Scene 5,17-27)
Little Orphan Annie in the musical of the same name sings,at first hopefully,’the sun will come out tomorrow’,and then wistfully,
Tomorrow,tomorrow,I love ya,tomorrow
You’re only a day away
Tomorrow,tomorrow,I love ya tomorrow
You’re always a day away.
Tomorrow is always a day away. This is the day – and there’s no better time to enjoy who we are in God. No better day to ask for,and offer,forgiveness. No better day to do that exercise,to start that diet,to paint that fence,to call a friend,to open the Bible. No better day to say ‘Thank you’,or ‘I’m sorry’,or ‘I love you’.
So,what are you waiting for? Mañana?