You’ve heard the phrase, “Today is a gift- that’s why it’s called the ‘present’”, yes? Good. Me too. First of all, I think it’s a goofy phrase that’s probably used way too much by parents who have bored children. Second, if we translated that phrase (much like any other cliché line) into another language, there would be no way we could explain what it meant without using a flow chart. And third, I like it.
I like it because it reminds me that today is important. And I like to forget that today is important. I like to think that today’s decisions, both big and small, don’t make an impact on tomorrow’s decisions. I like to think that what happens today will stay in today, and not reappear in tomorrow. I like to think that what I say, who I talk to, how I act, where I go, when I do things- don’t affect anything.
It’s a nice world that I live in.
Well, I only sometimes live in it.
Because other times, I am reminded with a big slap to the face of reality that today has a big effect on tomorrow. And I’m reminded of it every time a conflict comes up for a second and third and fourth and fifth time and up until now, I’ve chosen to go right every single time thus far- all the while knowing that I should have gone left from the start. It’s frustrating. Because now, I’m so far right, (and no, this is not a political statement) choosing left isn’t only difficult, it feels unnatural. Right is comfortable. Right is familiar. Right is where all of my stuff is. But left is where I’m supposed to be.
For those of you wondering if I’m referring to something in my personal life, the answer is no. I’ve just been reminded recently how important right now is.
It started when I heard someone who I truly admire talk about Heaven and how we, as Christians, claim it to be our main aspiration. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I do think it’s a narrow-sighted thing though. Because I think a lot of people are going to get into heaven. And while all of them will believe that Jesus is Lord of all, I think that a fairly large percentage will have missed out on a lot of the really important stuff regarding the here and now.
Let me explain myself. God created Heaven, right? It’s undoubtedly going to be beautiful. God also created this earth. And when He made it, He called everything good (to clarify, I believe He said “good” because it was “perfect,” not because it was “good enough”). But then people, much like me and you, ruined it by bringing sin into the world (You probably know this story). This perfect, amazing creation was immediately ruined by two people’s actions. And to further that, their actions on that one day affected every tomorrow after that and eventually, not one thing was not affected by sin.
The good news? God didn’t give up on his creation. In fact, He did the most selfless, radical thing imaginable. He came to earth, which He created, as a creation (a human) to save all of creation (you and me).
The bad news? I get so focused on my plan to live on streets of gold that I forget that God already has me living in a perfect paradise - it’s just been ruined by me and a lot of other people like me. But that’s no excuse to stop caring about it. In fact, that might be the worst excuse out of all the excuses that I could possibly use to excuse myself. And more importantly, it begs the question that when I say, "I'm just ready for Jesus to come back," am I really saying, "I just want to give up."?
So my hope for myself is that I get better at genuinely caring and loving the here and now. And I hope I start choosing to go left because I’ve been going right for a while now (again, not political). I need to remind myself daily to not only care about culture, but invest myself in it because God created music and art and expression and interpretation- thus there's a lot of good within that stuff. I need to pick up cigarette butts and napkins that fly off of people's Chipotle trays (these are my most recent memories of picking up trash that wasn't mine) because God created this earth and told me to take care of it. And I need to care about the people here with me because God put us above any other creation and I'm supposed to love what God loves. And I need to do it today. Because today is really, really important. For history shows that all it takes is one day to ruin a paradise. But it also shows that it takes one day to restore hope.
