It has not been a good week for this Georgia born Pastor living in Tennessee. I dropped my glasses, broke a tooth, and then hurt my knee while exercising. As if all of that was not enough, and to add insult to injury, both my beloved Georgia Bulldogs and Atlanta Falcons lost their football games this week. It was bad enough to lose the games, but it cost the Falcons a perfect record (so far) and nearly cost the Bulldogs a star running back.
But alas! I have learned to look for the silver lining in most any cloud. And I saw it in an oft repeated theme in a series of commercials being broadcast during football games by a well-known national chain of home improvement stores.
In each of these well-crafted commercials, a given football fan is introduced to his future “football self”, who then proceeds to lovingly reprimand himself for not doing his chores around the house on Saturday in order that he can be free to watch football on Sunday afternoon.
Brought to his senses, the individual then snaps to and rushes off to the featured home improvement store where he acquires all he needs to complete his outstanding projects on Saturday in order to be free for the big game a day later.
I can certainly appreciate the point of the commercial. How many of us put off doing what there is time and opportunity to do today, only to regret it tomorrow? And how many of us have been duly chastised by our own conscience later on as a result?!
The ancient Romans had a phrase: “Carpe Diem”. Literally translated from the Latin, it means “Seize the Day”. William Shakespeare said it this way, “There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and miseries.”
As God gives you opportunities, my friend, I trust you will take every advantage of each of them. For, surely, few things could be worse than having some future version of yourself berate you for the decisions you did or did not make today, each of which was destined to have had a huge bearing on your future circumstance at that time.
A young man I know and love recently said to me, “If this 25 year old (he named his own name) could go back and talk to the 19 year old (he again named his own name), he would say, “Don’t do this. Do that instead. You’ll be very glad you did!” In so doing, this young man spoke for all of us at one time or another.
So, my friend, rather than wait for that future self to speak reproachingly to your current self, why not ask yourself right now what he or she might say to you? And then act upon that wisdom now, while there is still both time and opportunity to do so. You will most likely be glad you did in the long run.
In his New Testament Letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul admonishes us as believers to “make the most of every opportunity” (chapter 4; Verse 5). No doubt, many of us, if we had just a small glimpse of the future, would take this admonition quite seriously .
And so, I leave you with these basic questions: What is your "future self" saying to you? And just what should you be doing right now in light of this?!
But alas! I have learned to look for the silver lining in most any cloud. And I saw it in an oft repeated theme in a series of commercials being broadcast during football games by a well-known national chain of home improvement stores.
In each of these well-crafted commercials, a given football fan is introduced to his future “football self”, who then proceeds to lovingly reprimand himself for not doing his chores around the house on Saturday in order that he can be free to watch football on Sunday afternoon.
Brought to his senses, the individual then snaps to and rushes off to the featured home improvement store where he acquires all he needs to complete his outstanding projects on Saturday in order to be free for the big game a day later.
I can certainly appreciate the point of the commercial. How many of us put off doing what there is time and opportunity to do today, only to regret it tomorrow? And how many of us have been duly chastised by our own conscience later on as a result?!
The ancient Romans had a phrase: “Carpe Diem”. Literally translated from the Latin, it means “Seize the Day”. William Shakespeare said it this way, “There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and miseries.”
As God gives you opportunities, my friend, I trust you will take every advantage of each of them. For, surely, few things could be worse than having some future version of yourself berate you for the decisions you did or did not make today, each of which was destined to have had a huge bearing on your future circumstance at that time.
A young man I know and love recently said to me, “If this 25 year old (he named his own name) could go back and talk to the 19 year old (he again named his own name), he would say, “Don’t do this. Do that instead. You’ll be very glad you did!” In so doing, this young man spoke for all of us at one time or another.
So, my friend, rather than wait for that future self to speak reproachingly to your current self, why not ask yourself right now what he or she might say to you? And then act upon that wisdom now, while there is still both time and opportunity to do so. You will most likely be glad you did in the long run.
In his New Testament Letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul admonishes us as believers to “make the most of every opportunity” (chapter 4; Verse 5). No doubt, many of us, if we had just a small glimpse of the future, would take this admonition quite seriously .
And so, I leave you with these basic questions: What is your "future self" saying to you? And just what should you be doing right now in light of this?!