backbend

My daughter’s voice echoed through our hall last week, “I can’t wait till I am a teenager.” A deeper voice, one in transition, retorted, “Well, I can’t wait till I am a parent because….” (in which followed a soliloquy of disagreements about our parenting style. )
It led me to ponder how this conversation parallels so many things in our lives. Often, contentment eludes us in our day to day. Surely, “tomorrow” will bring us all the things for which we have been waiting.
If only I was married. I only I had a better marriage. If only I had children. If only I had better children. If only I had a job. If only I had a better job. If only I could lose weight. If only I had a retirement fund. If only, if only _____ . Can you fill in your own blank?
Our list of “if only’s” rob us from embracing the life we have been given right now.
We dream of a grandiose tomorrow without processing or enjoying the moments of today.  Trust me, I understand  difficult “today’s,” and in those times, I, too, have wished the day away.
Emotionally, I worked through the unknowns of our family’s year of unemployment, but I continually had to fight my own “If only” tendencies. Learning that this mentality spirals quickly was a necessary reality. One can get completely lost in the dream of a new tomorrow without seizing  their today. When that happens, neither is realized. So I set goals for my new tomorrow, but relish in the experience of this day, both good and bad.

Will you join me as we embrace today?

As I type in this moment, I celebrate TODAY, but still dream of all that God has in store for the future.