Time for Comfort: Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow (James 4:14)

“Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.” -James 4:14

“Anticipation is half the realization,” my grandma once told me when I inquired why she was so opposed to surprises. My maternal grandmother was a wonderful and warm woman. A hard worker and prayer warrior, I don’t think she knew a stranger! While many decades and miles apart, she always made the effort to connect with me and my sisters. We still giggle about the time she asked if we had read anything that “really pinned us down” lately. 

“He’s so heavenly minded, he’s no earthly good!” was another saying of hers. While perhaps intended as a softened insult, we all know people who are so focused on things outside of the present moment, they miss the gifts and opportunities of the now. 

Whether trying to protect myself from anxiety or because I am saddled with a “type a” personality, I can so easily get wrapped up in running scenarios about future possibilities and preparing for the next thing that I miss out on the goodness of my immediate circumstances.

In her journals, my Grandmother would jot notes about the meals she ate or the people she saw on a given day. While she had 93 years of anticipation and realization, she lived each day with joy and gratitude for what it was. She understood we are not guaranteed any amount of time or ability on earth. Each day is truly a gift. May we embrace it as such.  

 Generous God, May I anticipate with hope a joyful future while being grateful for the goodness of this day. Amen. 

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Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.