The Future is Now!

My wife and I celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary this year and we indulged ourselves in a well-deserved three week holiday to Europe. In our own little fantasy world of the “Love Boat” era of the 70’s and 80’s, we decided to bring to realization that dream by signing up for a cruise in the Mediterranean. We spent a week in Italy on our own and joined a 12-day cruise from Venice to Istanbul and back. It was a thoroughly enjoyable holiday where we can withdraw from the routines of life.

In our staggered conversations throughout the trip in between celestial idle moments to exploring the ancient ruins of Italy, Greece and Turkey, and the beauty of the Greek islands, I thank my wife for standing by me for 25 years and we thank the Lord together that we could travel like this as best of friends. We enjoyed each other’s company more than ever as we enter into the early stage of our greying years and empty nest. We are beginning to understand and appreciate our promise to each other when we got married that we look forward to growing old together. Having been a pastor for twenty years, I have witnessed the heartaches of many broken or mediocre marriages. Marriage for some is like a prison cell, waiting for the day to get out. To others, and I am not sure which is worse, they live in mediocre co-existent, each living their own private life.

I often wonder what happened to the youthful ideals of love conquers all and why some couples even bothered to get married in the first place to get where they are today. For that, we are thankful to God that while we have our fair share of rough edges, the Lord has sustained and kept us together. There was a sense of déjà vu in this trip because I thought I saw a similar image before, of us in such a trip. I had a picture of what my marriage would be like, my family and my life. In fact, it is better than what I saw then. In some sense the future is now. I had a picture of what kind of husband I will be when I got married, the kind of father when I had my first child and the kind of influence I can be to people around me. It was then I started investing into the future. The future has now arrived. It is a sobering thought as I remember the life verse God gave me in my 20’s. James 4:14 “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

I was reminded that life will be short and whatever we do, for most things, we have only one shot at doing it right and the consequences, good or bad will have a rippling effect for years to come, not only to us but for many others as well. I remember crafting out in my early years what the future will be like, and little by little over the years, I invested into that future. Financial advisers have been extolling the power or miracle (some would say) of compounding interest. It is learning to save with patience and discipline, a bit at a time over a life-time, that we are assured of a good retirement. Life is not that much different really. The daily discipline of spiritual growth, relationship building and wealth creation is a responsibility of every person and the disaster of the lack of it is evident in so many we see years later.

If you are in your first half right now in your life, “maybe next year” is your worst excuse. You have far more important things at stake than you think. This is the power of vision. Life is like a mist. Don’t live to regret it later. My future is now, and a little more to go! You will be saying this too, soon.