Proverbs 27:1 Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.

Dear God, I think this is a word of wisdom that comes with age. It comes with the experience of thinking, Oh, nothing can possibly go wrong, and then having it all go terribly wrong. It is the businessman who feels bulletproof with enough cash in the bank one day and his is fighting off bankruptcy the next because of a crash in the market. It is the parent who is bragging on their children one day and then terrified for their lives the next. It is the person planning their retirement one day and then fighting terminal cancer the next. 

So I guess the real lesson is that we need to be better about appreciating the moment we are in while always preparing our lamps to have enough oil while we await the bridegroom. We need to be vigilant. Even now, I am on an extravagant vacation, but there is a part of it that is unsettling to me because 1.) I don’t normally live this way and 2.) I know there is a lot of suffering going on in the world and it feels weird to completely detach myself from it and indulge myself. 

Father, I have moved beyond judging good fortune or bad fortune in relation to your favor with me. I know that they work quite independently from each other. So help me to just be the person today that you need me to be. Love others through me. Teach me through others. Use my life to make the world a better place.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen