“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”
I recently heard one of the top Division I college baseball coaches speak at an event. During his message, he talked about five options for how to live our lives. In what he considered the best option, one of his key points was that we are to live in the present—to always be present. He mentioned how easy it is to live in the past in his sport. If the last pitch was a strike and you’re the hitter, you’ve got to let that go and focus on the next pitch. If your batting average is .115 and it’s the bottom of the ninth, you’re down by one with a runner on third and two outs, you don’t focus on your average or the times you got out—you focus on that next pitch. I always thought living in the present was a relaxing and freeing way to live. In a lot of ways it is, but in his description it can also be a very stressful way to live. Here in this verse, Solomon is giving us his perspective on that same reality. Boasting about tomorrow—claiming some kind of credit or confidence for something that hasn’t even happened yet—is a foolish way to live. We do have control over our preparation, but we don’t ultimately have control over tomorrow’s outcomes. We’re also reminded that today has enough troubles of its own, and therefore we sometimes waste our energy worrying about tomorrow. I’m a huge fan of the coach’s challenge to relax and live in the moment we’re in. Nobody is ever guaranteed tomorrow. Today matters—so live in the present. #BeTheEdge
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” — Jesus
