don't dress for next tuesday, it might rain.

My email account has this lovely feature at login that has little blips of news articles to keep me posted/tempt me to read on about the latest and greatest, etc. Today one of the features blips was title, "Spring Eye Shadow Trend You Can Try Now." Also, today I came home to the Wall Street Journal on the table with a heading reading, "The Top 10 Looks for Spring." ...Isn't this fall? For a second, I wasn't sure if I'd mistaken the season. While it is indeed important to plan, sometimes I think we get a little anxious. Fashion is not something I think we need to prepare for 6 months ahead of time...the shirts will still be in style when they hit the rack. And I'm just now getting prepared for winter. So let's take this out to the bigger picture of our lives. Ever planned too far ahead? Boxed yourself in before you got to a situation?

While this is not what I'm saying the WSJ and AOL are doing, just imagine if you focused so hard on Spring Trends that you weren't focusing on the chillier days of Fall and soon to be Winter, and you went out in the snow in a tank top. Frost bite? That's exactly what can happen in life if we approach situations focusing more on what might happen in the future than what is happening today. Perhaps you're in a relationship and you're focusing more on potential marriage than you are on getting to know the person today...that could cause some problems. Maybe you're so focused on getting a promotion at work that you step on everyone, not realizing that alienating people today could challenge your tomorrows and even your goal. Maybe you're stressing about a project/opportunity/event 3 months away, and you forget about your son's baseball game. Whatever the situation or story may be, we must be careful not to look so far ahead that we forget to embrace our todays.

This seems to be a really big problem for the age group that is graduating HS/college and looking for God's plan for their life. The stress of having everything planned out overwhelms making the most of today. Here's a quote from Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung, "But put aside the passivity and the quest for complete fulfillment and the perfectionism and the preoccupation with the future, and for God's sake start making some decisions in your life. Don't wait for the liver-shiver. If you are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you will be in God's will, so just go out and do something." Basically, just keep in mind that a lot can change in a year, or even a month...perhaps a week will turn your world upside down, or right side up. Let God move and don't box yourself in. If you're so determined to do X in the future, you may miss out that God says, "give that kid a hug" or "write your great aunt, she's having a tough time" or whatever He leads you to today. And while those things seem piddly (they aren't), imagine if God tries to tell you something that will be future altering...like about the person you'll marry? My advice: have a sketch of your future, but don't make it with a permanent marker, and be ready for God to answer prayers with some 'wowzer' changes every now and then. It keeps you awake and listening.

Let's hear it from James..."Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'--yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that' (James 4:13-15)"

Don't let your tomorrows eclipse your todays. Don't let your todays stop you from seeking tomorrows. It's a hard balance, but I believe you can do it.