“SEEING BEYOND TOMORROW’S GLOOM” – Feb 22
February 22, 2014“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
The future looms before every person. The length and breadth of these tomorrows are generally assumed greater than their actual duration and are often casually dismissed. However, every breath taken is an act of exploration into a realm never before experienced. The mystery of tomorrow forces us all into the uncertain adventure of living life.
In my optimism of youth, I relished this adventure. The future was a land of opportunity and freedom. Without responsibilities and obligations, I raced around the blind corners of tomorrow, crashed through decisions without apprehension, confident that the future was a gift that waited to be opened.
- Scott Hudson * / Foter / CC BY
Years have been spent on this adventure of tomorrow and my optimism for youth has waned. Explorations into the temporal mysteries has proven that all that lay ahead is not the pleasant gift I once assumed. The unabashed plunge to see beyond the bright horizon has been slowed by the dim of experience. Hard knocks and expensive lessons weigh down optimism. Disappointment and torn relationships sap the spirit of adventure. Unfulfilled expectations and suffering erode confidence into trepidation.
The filter of experience reveals the future as a dark, dense forest where even a breeze becomes lost. Experience teaches that the adventure of life is a long walk through an imposing, meandering wilderness of darkness broken only by sporadic patches of light. It is a place where dreams are swallowed and a sanguine disposition gasps for air.
Mirkwood! (Photo credit: eckenheimer)
Hope is lost when informed only by the rhetoric of experience.
Experience knows that the satisfaction sought in the land of tomorrow never can be sustained in the present.
Experience knows that happiness and contentment can be stolen by a telephone call.
Experience knows that esteem can slip away in a wave of miscalculation.
Experience knows the eternity within man’s heart will eventually be swallowed by failing flesh.
Daunted courage is all that can come from a mind informed only by experience. Hard earned wisdom will inevitably restrain the will into steps of caution through a future of unseen but anticipated difficulties. The optimism of youth cannot withstand the honest revelation of experience when its hopes are placed within the finite horizon. The finite future is a dark land of trials and tribulations that no amount of optimism can overcome.
Experience can only be rebutted by a hope that resides beyond the finite horizon in the infinite.
Undaunted courage to walk through the difficult mysteries of tomorrow arises from the hope in the land that is promised but yet unseen. Optimism is sustained through finite disappointments of today only when informed of an infinite hope that cannot be taken.
Hope abounds only within the completed work
of the Overcomer of this world, Jesus Christ.
The power of positive thinking is a foolish hoax of the deceived. There is no power in the optimism for a finite world. Experience has taught me that hope is lost in the finite but the Spirit sings to me of the everlasting joy in the infinite.
Therefore, I reclaim my youthful optimism by setting my eyes beyond the finite horizon to a promised land at the feet of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Overcomer this world. I can joyfully race around the blind corners of tomorrow, crash through decisions without apprehension, and confidently stride toward the gift of eternal life while I endure all things because I eagerly await my adoption as son, the redemption of my body (Romans 8:23).
That is the power of an optimistic life that leads to peace.
True, unfailing power comes only in thinking that is set upon the positive redeeming work of Christ.
PRAYER: Lord, give courage to my soul to face tomorrow. I take all my fears and failures that experience beats down upon me and cast them before you. I renounce my pessimism that years have hard won. I reclaim the optimism of my youth, transformed by your grace. Spirit, speak to my worn soul of the joys that await. Revive my vigor for a life lived in the conquering power of my great Redeemer. Thank you for giving me the gift of eternal life. Help me to set my eyes upon your promises beyond the finite horizon that I am drawn to. Draw me deeper into you … Draw me to the infinite. I praise you O Lord (Take Heart). I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
A DEVOTED LIFE 
Reblogged this on wordimagery and commented:
So very well expressed, JD! Blessings to you brother…This is the very real stuff that we live and breathe every day. So good to remember that in spite of our many troubles in this life, that not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from our Father’s will, and the very hairs on our head are numbered. As we daily remember and acknowledge the One who holds our future, eternity is not far from our grasp.
Thanks for the reblog Steve; I hope all has been well with you and your family.
God Bless!
JD
We walk by faith and not by sight…some good reminders in this post, thanks for sharing it!
“The power of positive thinking is a foolish hoax of the deceived. There is no power in the optimism for a finite world…. Therefore, I reclaim my youthful optimism by setting my eyes beyond the finite horizon to a promised land at the feet of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Overcomer this world.”
Wonderful post and very encouraging!
Your words express so much of what Solomon concluded at the end of his days, yet Praise God we live on this side of the cross and can walk instead in the light of redemption!