PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

March 15, 2023

PAST, PRESENT, OR FUTURE

Rick Gaul, city engineer for the city of Plymouth was the speaker for the Plymouth ROTARY club on Monday, March 2, 2020.  Rick spoke about storm water management.  I had a personal interest in the subject since my house had eighteen inches of water in the lower level during the flood of 2018.  Also, there is a housing development under construction not far from my house which means that there will be more hard surfaces and more potential water runoff into the ditch behind my home.

During his presentation Rick said that when it comes to storm water management the city always seemed to be working on the past not projecting into the future.  Rather than getting ahead of the game the city finds itself always trying to catch up.  This is a common problem.  Persons, families, business, institutions, and organizations find themselves so overwhelmed dealing with past problems that there is little time, energy and resources to look ahead.

With the growing spread of the coronavirus there has been a huge drop in the stock market.  In part this had been driven by investors anticipating future implications of the possible pandemic and responding accordingly.  Somewhere lost in all of the discussion is that every year the flu affects millions of people around the world and kills thousands and there is no panic.  It would seem that fear of possible consequences of the coronavirus is as dangerous as the virus itself.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?”  For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.  Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:31-34)

Rick Gaul says the city of Plymouth needs to be more forward thinking in dealing with storm water.  The present response to the coronavirus illustrates the dangers of being caught up with forward thinking.  Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount advises his followers to just worry about today because tomorrow will have enough worries of its own.  Which of these three perspectives is right?  I think that there is some truth in each of them, depending on the context.

We should take the past seriously.  Someone has observed that those who ignore the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.  Never-the-less we should be open to new ideas, new situations, and new inventions.

Much about the future is unknown.  We can allow ourselves to be caught in negative thinking that only focuses on possible doom and gloom.  One can spend a great deal of time and energy worrying about what might be.  What does it profit a person to worry?  If you worry about something and it happens worrying did not change anything.  If you worry about something and it does not come to pass, one has worried in vain.  We need to be concerned about the future and try to anticipate what might happen, but we do not need to let the future overwhelm and depress us.

There is something to be said about living in the present.  There is not much we can do about the past and the future’s story is yet to be written.  Each day is a gift from God to be enjoyed.  In addition as we live each day that God gives us we have the assurance that He is with us in the present and will be there in the future.  We do not know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.

This article was originally published March 15, 2020.