The Future

 

 

Anything left for the future

Is never ever done,

The reason is pretty simple

The future never ever comes.

 

I am sure you understand

For experience has taught us that,

Whenever we got around to it

It was a present act.

 

The future is procrastination

And procrastination is a trap,

How can we say tomorrow

When we don’t know about that?

 

There is a place for promises

Promises of a certain sort

But things that can be done today

In the future they will abort.

 

As it relates to routine

Some things we can expect,

However, even in such cases

We sometimes experience regret.

 

The promise of a child

When the evidence is clear

Is a future expectation

That grows as the time gets near.

 

The promise of a salary

At the end of the month

Even though we work towards it

Becomes a routine triumph.

 

A future promise is not guaranteed

Unless it’s a promise from God,

Satan offers alluring promises

But he is a shameless fraud.

 

The Bible gives a caution

Relating to the future,

The uncertainty of tomorrow

Being its principal feature.

 

 

Whereas ye know not what

Shall be on the morrow,

Even one’s life is not guaranteed

For life is like a vapour.

 

For a little more on this matter

Go to the 4^th chapter of James,

Do not be like the foolish farmer

Who stood on future claims.

 

“I will pull down my barns,” he said,

“And I will build them greater.

I will feed my soul on such bounty.”

Oh, he could not be happier!

 

He neither considered God

Nor the unpredictability of the future,

God required his soul that night

And he was bound for his sepulchre.

 

Any promise that God has made

Will certainly come to pass

As long as it is not conditional

On someone to perform a task.

 

The coming of the Lord:

That is a futuristic certainty,

We can bank on that as the saying goes

For in that lies our destiny.

 

Concerning the coming judgment

That too is a futuristic fact,

Remember the future is in God’s hand

And we can be sure of that.

 

 

“Trust no future, how e’er pleasant!”

Mr. Longfellow said,

“Act, act in the living present

Heart within, and God o’er head!

 

The future is not reality

I know that sounds quite funny

But it’s a fact we had better grasp

And reject the current folly.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2018

 

No True Gauge

 

 

 

Four quarters in a year

And three are pretty much gone,

The past has been fairly daunting

And many are afraid to go on.

 

Gauging the future by the past

Is something most of us do

Especially if trended towards the bad

We expect the future to be too.

 

Hence, September remember:

Remember that 1955 storm!

And so, whenever September comes,

The sign goes up, “Be Warned!”

 

Thus October, it’s all over!

Gauging the future by the Past

But the past reminded us again

Such projections do not last.

 

So now our hurricane season

Lasts from June to November,

It’s not all over in October

And this we must remember.

 

And now wisely reflecting

On the months that have flown

We still can’t know the future

For the future is unknown.

 

Our experts can project

Based on calculated probability

But never mind how astute the math,

The past is never destiny.

 

 

“There will be” is no guarantee:

Of the future none is sure,

There is definitely no tomorrow

And the past is no more.

 

No true gauge of the future

The past can ever be,

The most that we can be sure of

Is the present we now see.

 

And even this is limited

For our sight is severely flawed,

All the more reason, my friend,

Why we need to trust in God.

 

Stewart Russell © September 30, 2022

 

Trust no future, howe’er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act, act in the living Present!

Heart within, and God o’erhead!

 

From A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

The Certainty of Uncertainty

 

 

Uncertainty, the only certainty…

That’s how it now appears,

Many are worried and transfixed

As though spellbound by their fear.

The days ahead hold terror

And the unknown looms large,

Uncertainty like a raging lunatic

Is on a rampant charge.

It is as though the final season

Is coming to its inevitable end

And as a result, its up-tempo finale

Of uncertainty descends.

Lives of prior comfort and ease

Are severely disrupted

And the security once enjoyed

Can no longer be taken for granted.

The tried and tested bastions

Of the powerful and the rich

Are fast becoming rickety scaffolds

As though built in a swampy ditch.

The certain has become uncertain

It is just a wait and see

And the uncertain is now certain

As though it was meant to be.

Trust has exited the reality stage

And confidence has followed suit,

Tomorrow is now lived out today

Although an impossible route.

Tomorrow is viewed with suspicion

Where once there was certainty,

A promise could be counted on…

At least, that’s how it seemed to be.

  

The rules are being changed

And nothing is fixed any more,

Today was tomorrow’s yesterday

Not just the day before.

Next week was viewed with suspicion

And in some cases, next month

But tomorrow was anticipated

As an inevitable triumph.

Now today, tomorrow and beyond

Are all rolled into one

And the uncertainty presses sorely

With every passing dawn.

Trust no future however pleasant

You will find in A Psalm of Life

And no doubt the poet, Longfellow,

Was facing this same strife.

The certainty of the uncertainty

Is surely nothing new

For the Bible also points this out

As a practical everyday view.

James 4:13-15

Like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,

The apostle James points out

The certain uncertainty of tomorrow

And that is surely without doubt.

Tomorrow, I will do this or that…

For many this is the boast

But given the certain uncertainty

None knows what a day will bring forth.

God alone knows for certain,

There is no uncertainty with Him,

It is He that drew the time line…

He knows its end from the beginning.

  

Romans 8:28

It behooves us as dear children

To cast all uncertainties on God

Knowing that everything works for good

To all them that are the called.

Stewart Russell © April 2020