The future

I don't know about you but as I get older...ok, as my children get older, I think some more about their future and mine of course. A few years ago, one of our children asked if they could inherit our home after we died...talk about advance planning. Well, I promptly responded that long before we die, he'd be in a position to own his own home.

Sometimes the future seems so far out there, but with the recent economic melt-down that defrosted quite a number of retirees' income, it's never too soon to think about the future - yours and your children's. You know when I think about it, "the best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time”*, otherwise it will be quite overwhelming.

My husband had an nice email sign off - "The future starts today. How am I using it?" It was quite the wake-up call knowing that "every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.”**

It's never too soon to start planning your future and by default your children's future. We always say that our children are the future leaders of tomorrow but how are we preparing them for that future? We must realise that "...tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”*** And that definitely includes how we prepare our children - today.

I feel led to, so I'll go down the children path in this piece and then return to our level (in a subsequent posting).

I've seen too many parents want to live their lives/desires through their children. This really unfair because those children usually end up as unhappy and unfulfilled adults - I'm sure you've met one or two of such people. I know because I was close to living one of my parent's dream. It's usually worse when they are much older and cannot identify why they feel unfulfilled. Even God's desire is that we be like Him not that we are Him. Your children are not to be your clone, they should have your positive attributes and attitudes but don't need to be you to be a success.

On the other end of the spectrum are those who Stacia Tauscher referred to when she said: “We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.” Remember, our future starts today not tomorrow. Whoever our child is today is the foundation (or lack of foundation) for tomorrow and his/her future. All God expects from you is to "Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it."**** (Prov 22:6) Once we teach our children how to seek after and hear God. They will benefit from God's promises: "And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way; walk in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left."**** (Is 30:21) and "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way that you should go."**** (Is 48:17)

Hopefully, you have also benefited from these promises too..."I know not what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future"*****
Sources:
*Abraham Lincoln
**Henry Ward Beecher
***African Proverb
****Amplified Bible
*****Author Unknown