We are all familiar with this short but piercing inquiry; the two words that have endless possibilities and no simple answer. No matter what stage of life you’re in it’s likely that you’ve heard it a least a few times. When you are in high school people want to know where you will to go to college, when you are in college they want to know when you will graduate. Once you approach graduation everyone asks what you are going to do for a career, as you find a job the next inquiry is about when you will get married. Since I’m not married I can only assume that the next question is about when you will have kids. This is the world we live in; we all want to know what’s next.
I’m not going to rebuke our future focus; there is something to be said for prudent planning. However, there is a difference in responsibility and worry, but that is between you and the Lord. What I am going to do is share a reminder of the present. That moment you have right now, the only time you are responsible for as the past is gone and the future is not yet yours. That’s the real question: What’s now?
Everything in your past has brought you to this point. Good, bad, or ugly it is all a part of who you are as a person and where you are at in life right now. We’ve all heard a version of the saying: “Tomorrow isn’t promised, yesterday is over, and today is a gift that’s why it’s called the present.” So what are you going to do with the present? You could waste it, maybe look back over your life and think that you are so far gone that this decision couldn’t possibly fix anything. You could be apathetic and cling to a day not yet given hoping it provides a more convenient set of circumstances. Or . . . just maybe . . . you could do something you haven’t done in a long time. You can seize this moment and live it like it is your last.
I think we all need to go back to childhood, better yet back to the Scriptures where it says, in Matthew 18:3 “ . . . I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Where is our childlike appreciation of this moment? Remember that as kids it was so easy to get caught up in something fun or exciting? No matter how messed up life was around you, if something intriguing caught our attention we could escape from it all and appreciate that moment we had. I believe that is what Jesus is talking about in this verse. We need to release our worries to Him, we need to embrace some childlike faith and let Daddy take care of the big picture.
So often we are unsatisfied in life because we are focused on either what we have not yet achieved or what we once had and lost. It brings to mind that old saying “the grass is always greener on the other side.” The moral here is that as long as you are consumed by the things you don’t have you will overlook the things you do have. And I’m not referring to these pleasures as some evil that we should all be avoiding, God created us to enjoy Him and His creation. Anything that takes the place of our First Love is a lust, so I don’t even have to spell out what this looks like . . . because this is exactly my point! Live. Enjoy it. Do whatever you want. But do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:17).
We aren’t on this earth to worry about tomorrow, we are here to enjoy God in this moment, and we are here to enjoy Him so much that it makes others want to enjoy Him too. That is your witness. Who cares if you “have all the answers” if you are living more defeated than the non-believers around you? Live in the moments you are given right now! Live. Laugh. Love.
With all that being said, I do in fact have a direction in my life for what’s next. Over the course of the Race my Father has been solidifying a passion He gave me last summer. The longer I’ve been gone the more I can’t wait to get home and go back to work with the young men I had the privilege of discipling a year ago. That’s a God thing, spending a year away from my local church physically while growing closer to them in my heart all the while. Haha. We serve an awesome Savior. So that’s where I am at, I have a desire to disciple and mentor others, particularly young men. Do I feel qualified? Not in the least. And that is why I can’t wait to see what Jesus has in store for us. He loves to equip the willing and prove His power through our weakness!
Even so, more than any of this, what’s next for me is to live right now. I have 13 more days until I get home, and after that I have no idea how or when these dreams of mine will take place, if they happen at all. I could waste weeks, months, or even years waiting for my plans to work out. So my plan is to boldly pursue my God-given passions while also holding them loosely before my King . . . He is the one who gave them to me, He can give me new ones tomorrow if He so desires. He works in mysterious ways (Job 37:5). But this I know, I have today; I have this moment right now and I’m going to live it to the fullest.
So . . . What’s next in your life?!
Living in His Moment,
Tanner Hubbard
