On The Presumption of Tomorrow

 

Tomorrow is not promised

Today is all we possess

This golden moment have we alone

This instant to caress.

It’s the fleeting nature of time

In an instant it is changed

And we with our incomplete plans

Struggle to rearrange.

Yet we boast of tomorrow

As though it’s deposited in a bank

And from it we could withdraw whenever

With a signed cheque that’s blank.

With such a cheque you know

That not only is it authentic

But one could withdraw what one wants

For it speaks to having no limit.

But time is not like funds

That we daily consign to a bank

Time can only be given by God

And him alone we should thank.

Our life and times are in God’s hands

We neither can declare nor decree

The number of days or minutes

Or how many years it may be.

This precise moment is ours

In a flash you realise it is gone

And so it is for men and women

For the old and the newly born.

The Bible instructs us to be careful

How we plan for the day to come

For there is no guarantee of tomorrow

We are never sure that there is one.

For tomorrow is really today

That is whenever it arrives

It’s never in tomorrow that one lives

But always in today that one survives.

Boast not of tomorrow the Bible warns

Therein lies the unknown

Planning is necessary and so we must

But presumption cannot be condoned.

If I should live or should God allow

I will proceed with such a plan

For when all is said and done

Everything is in God’s hand.

On the presumption of a tomorrow

I have no such design

Today I shall live and praise my Maker

Now that my thinking is realigned.

Stewart Russell © 2016