The present is your present! This is the time of year that many people think about presents. A large percentage of the world’s population celebrate Christmas, including many non-Christians. And many people celebrate Hanukkah. In both celebrations there is gift giving. In fact, Hanukkah has eight days of gift giving. That is a lot of presents! The commerce generated by those two holidays is amazing!
There is another present that I believe is far more significant than a holiday toy; a new tie; a sweater; a puzzle or a gift basket. It is the gift of time. Without it, where would you be today? Gone, I suspect, or at least not going anywhere fast. Perhaps frozen in time? Try to imagine the concept of “no time”. That will probably make your head spin. Go ahead! Give it a try. Now try to verbalize what you perceived as a life without time. Even Ground Hog Days had time, and that was a mind-boggling portrayal of a day in the life of a reporter that repeated itself many times.
We have all heard and likely used the phrase “Every day is a gift”. Do you feel that way? I surely do! First, if time stopped for me in this life, I would be dead. Therefore, I can continue into another day and have another go at things. Maybe I didn’t do so well yesterday. Today provides another opportunity for me to get it right.
Another thing. Yesterday is gone! I heard that in a Fleetwood Mac song. It must be true. Seriously, yesterday is behind you and cannot be retrieved or relived. Sure, we can learn from it and should. We can also get stuck in it. That is the closest you’ll come to time standing still. But since you can’t have a “do over”, staying there can be burdensome and hold you back. Holding onto the past can do that to you. It is like driving using only the rearview mirror. Driving by viewing through a windshield is much more productive. Why do you think God created us to be faster running forward than backward? Have you ever tried driving down the highway in reverse at 75 miles per hour?
Today, or the present is all we have that is live so we need to live it to the fullest, however you define that. However, who of you do not look forward in time. Maybe you are looking forward to a wedding, a new baby, a vacation, the weekend or even retirement. Maybe you look forward to Mondays at work. Of course, you do! The fact is that though we are not there yet, we often look to the future with hope for something better than we have today. It is important to live today but also important to desire the future because it is motivating and invigorating. Without it, we would not need the word plan. Without it, there would be more chaos than the organization in our lives. Saturday we are having a cookie decorating party for several youngsters and their parents. Now that is something for a guy like me to look forward to!
In the ancient scriptures from the book of Exodus, after God led the Israelites out of Egypt, He fed them daily. According to the account, there were no grocery stores in the desert where they wondered for forty years. There was, however, food provided daily. Manna or quail was provided each day. They lived one day at a time. But according to scripture they also looked forward, some with faith, to the promised land. They had faith in the future.
Where there is no faith in the future there is no power in the present. And where there is faith in the future there is power in the present. Faith in the future supercharges today. It provides motivation, excitement and energy. Leaders are successful when they provide hope for the future. Without it, where would they be and where would they go? Likely, nowhere fast! President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign slogan was “Change we can believe in” and was often followed by the chant “Yes we can”. People got behind that hope for the future and had faith in the man soon to become president for two terms. Faith increases with exercise. Stretch yourself to where faith is all that you have, and it will amaze you at how it will grow. I heard John Maxwell once say “Get out of your comfort zone and into your faith zone. Things happen in the faith zone that never happen in your comfort zone.”
Looking forward is a good thing, but remember, the promise of a better future that most of us think about often takes planning and work for it to come true. So why wait until tomorrow to begin that process? If you wait until tomorrow today will be gone and possibly wasted. And if you waste today, what will keep you from doing the same tomorrow. Today is real and all you have right now. Make the most of it by working toward your future goals and dreams. Today is a “bird in the hand” gift and therefore your present in the present.