Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow;
for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
Have you ever gone to bed completely determined to wake up the next day and seize it? I mean you’re going to carpe this diem. You’ve made a list, you have a plan of what you’re going to start on first. You know how to get one thing going so you can go and do something else while it’s doing its thing. You have a plan and tomorrow is going to be the most productive day of your life.
Then you wake up. Later than usual. Grumpier than usual. More tired than usual. And all that drive, all that desire, that big plan you had is gone. Out the window. Vanished like a vapor.
I don’t think the point of this proverb or the other passages in the bible that make a similar statement are to get us to stop planning for tomorrow. I don’t think we’re supposed to just bounce around like aimlessly and hope that we’re going to end up in the right place. I can’t imagine that the God of the universe who put into motion a great plan and very organized system for everything we see around us would want us to approach our lives without system and structure.
What I do think it means though is that we’re supposed to take full advantage of this day. We’re not supposed to make extravagant plans for tomorrow because we’re too lazy to do them today. We’re supposed to do as much as we can each day. There shouldn’t be a need to seize a day like we think of, because we should have been diligent enough along the way that there is a normal amount of work to do each day.
Along with that, we never know if we’ll be here tomorrow. I know we say that, but I don’t think we really believe it. Especially the younger you are. As you are young, you feel like you have your whole life ahead of you and that there will be plenty of time to do the things you’re thinking of doing. But, even when you’re young, you don’t know with certainty that you will be there tomorrow.
So, don’t wait for tomorrow to do what needs to be done today. Don’t boast about all you’re going to get done tomorrow. Don’t boast about the cool trip you’re going on or the adventures you’re going to have. Boast at the end of the day about all you got done today.
