If there is one coaching principle that fits like a hand in glove with spiritual development, in my opinion it would be this one:
The future is what you are today, not what you are going to be tomorrow.
This is the day when God makes the future possible.
Timely as it is, this quote was not taken from a contemporary Christian author’s NY Times bestseller. Instead, it was discovered in a devotional of compiled messages delivered by an old-time preacher laid to rest nearly seventy years ago.
His statement first caught my attention, then my yellow highlighter. I’ve since read it many times.
The future is what you are today, not what you are going to be tomorrow.
It resonates with truth and mystery. One of those simple yet profound statements you can read over and over in an attempt to squeeze out the last droplet of understanding.
Which is precisely where we have a tendency to get hung up. Future means future, doesn’t it?
When talking about spiritual development, words like faith, hope, waiting, and trusting find their way into our conversations. They are morsels from heaven that sustain us, for we are not God and do not know what tomorrow may bring. Likewise, no coach I know – and certainly not this one – has a crystal ball with the inside scoop on how life is going to play out for their clients. (Ecclesiastes 8:7)
However, what you are today is when shaping, forming and internalizing is taking place.
Therefore – Today matters. Today is important. Today is weighty with possibility.
For what you are today informs and impacts what you will be tomorrow – which is your future.
Every morning the cycle repeats itself. Tomorrow becomes today and you’re back to the future again.
This is the day when God makes the future possible.
God’s desire is that each of us live every Today with Him clearly and intentionally in our view. He knows – and deeply cares – that the future is the result of what we are today. He is dedicated to developing and building us into Christ’s living, breathing, triumphant Body both now and forever. Today and Future.
That is His part. Our part in spiritual development is to make ourselves available to Him and receiving of Him.
Hearts developed by Him that remain in Him produce lives where, with Him, all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)
Even the future. Today.
Would you like to talk at a more personal level about how to grow a life-giving future, today?
You can reach me here. No crystal ball; just the Living Word that brings glistening life to Today.
~ Nancy
Photo credit: bryan elkus via photopin cc
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