THE TOMORROW TRAP (Part I)

THE TOMORROW TRAP (Part I)

Many 21th century people are trapped in and victimized by what I call ‘The Manana Syndrome.’ How so? Because life these days is inundated by a host of demanding tasks and activities that monopolize our time and drain our energy. We are busy, busy, busy – and even while insisting that we are MULTI-TASKERS, we typically feel overextended and we truly struggle to handle the multiplicity of ‘stuff’ that is thrown our way simultaneously.  Three primary casualties emerge from such crowded daily agendas: relationships with God, relationships with loved ones and our overall state of health.

In the Spanish language, the word “manana” means TOMORROW.  It suggests that SINCE MOST OF US ARE SO OVERBURDENED WITH MINUTIA, WE HAVE THE TENDENCY TO PROCRASTINATE!  That is, suffering from sensory overload and failing to properly prioritize our time, talent and treasure, we put off for tomorrow mission critical objectives that should be accomplished today.  A wise adage suggests to us that “procrastination is the thief of time.”  It is.  However, on the flip side of the coin, we typically do not allow ourselves the ‘luxury’ of stopping our roller-coaster ride for just 30-minutes-a-day to think deeply about what we have been doing, or not doing.  As I often say, we are too busy…being busy!

Consider this story.  A beautiful brown baby hippo named Daisy was grinning and floating happily on her back in a water-filled mud hole in Central Africa.  At the moment, Mrs. Penelope Hippopotamus, Daisy’s Mom, was emotionally flippin’ out!  You see, Mrs. H was very time conscious and consistently punctual with everything.  With a busy schedule planned for the morning, including a shopping expedition to Hippos-R-Us, Mrs. H had no time to waste with Daisy’s slothful shenanigans.

“Daisy!  DAISY!” she shouted frantically, “Where are you child?”  No answer.  Before long, Mrs. H discovered Daisy at her favorite leisurely hideaway, bathing lazily in the warmth of the African sun.  I don’t have to tell you that she was outraged!  Mrs. H stood for a moment glaring down at Daisy, just before voluminous vexation flowed freely from her lips: “DAISY!  Child, you’ll never amount to anything lying around like this!  What you doin’ down there, gal?  We got THANGS to do!”  However, Daisy just laid back even more so, floating on her muddy river of ease.

Adjusting her position ever so slowly, Daisy smiled up at her mother and offered an excuse: “Uncle Bobo says things will get better SOMEDAY…and I figure he ain’t talkin’ about TODAY…so I’m just chillin’ here, waitin’ on TOMORROW!  Yeah Momma, TOMORROW is my FAVORITE day!  Take it easy…we’ve got TOMORROW!”

[A Serious Question: HAS YOUR MAMA EVER DRILLED A HOLE IN YOUR FACE…using nothing but her eyeballs as power tools?  Your Probable Response: “YES!”  And your Momma’s non-verbal communiqués were the assurance of grave consequences for any failure to immediately comply with her wishes!]

Well, in the heat of such a piercing maternal glare, Daisy was seriously reevaluating her original game plan.  Just then, she heard Momma’s volcanic voice: “DAISY…if you don’t evacuate that mud-hole pronto…I’ll make your TODAY so HOT…it will BURN UP the BACKSIDE of your TOMORROW!”  Well, Daisy recanted her earlier proposition and position – and forthwith headed by Momma’s side to Hippos-R-Us!

Carefully consider this.  Equally as bad as being OVERWHELMED by busy and overcrowded schedules is the prospect of being UNDERWHELMED by inactivity and idleness (e.g. Daisy the Hippo).  Indeed, time is a paradoxical phenomenon.  It can be spent and wasted, but never saved.  It can be lost, but never found.  That is, once lost, it can never be retrieved.  The prolific author of children’s books, Dr. Seuss, once asked this comical question: “How did it get so late…so soon?”  While the question Dr. Seuss poses sounds rather humorous, at its core is a deadly serious matter.  

William Penn, the founder of my home state of Pennsylvania, declared “Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.”  A famous fellow Pennsylvanian, Benjamin Franklin, said “You may delay, but time will not.”  In other words, time is the most precious of human commodities.  The irony is that we spend far too little time or effort ORGANIZING OUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET, i.e. THE GIFT OF TIME.  Only in hindsight do we measure and treasure its true worth.  For example, after a loved one has transitioned, we typically regard prior shared moments with a higher degree of awareness, value and sensitivity.

Here’s an important observation (in the form of a question) that I pray will be taken to heart by each and every reader: ‘Have you ever stopped to reflect on the fact that you are now ___ years old, and that sometimes you have difficulty remembering the specifics of your last 5, 10, 20 (or more) years?’  In a sense, it feels like you have been in a curious sort of coma, passing through YEARS with little or no awareness of what is really going on!  It’s a frightening thought, isn’t it?  I mean, when you stop to think about it, it feels like mere MOMENTS AGO you were age 15, or 21, or 30, or 40, or whatever.  And you ask yourself: ‘Where did it all go…how did it pass by so quickly…and what have I noted, learned, experienced, accomplished, or even celebrated along the way?

That kind of ‘awakening moment’ brings us to another critically important question: What is the biblical perspective on time?  That is, how does GOD VIEW TIME and my relationship to it?  In the next installment of this two-part series, I will provide a few practical scriptural insights, but allow me to offer a preliminary clue.  The late Christian humanitarian, Mother Teresa, said this about time: “Yesterday is gone.  Tomorrow has not yet come.  We have only today.  Let us begin.”  Stay tuned…more to come tomorrow.

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!