“It takes a noble man to plant a seed for a tree that will someday give shade to people he may never meet.”
D. Elton Trueblood (1900-1994);
We do not know what will happen in the future. No matter what we think, how we prepare, or what types of theories surround us, the reality is, the future remains completely unknown to us. Why then, do so many of us take our time to prepare? Why do we struggle to go against society to do what we think is best? We choose to prepare for an unknown future because it is the right thing to do.
When we make the choice to teach certain morals to our children, we are preparing for the future. Our decisions to speak kind words to a stranger, plant a seed of hope in a neighbor, or visit with friends and family prepare the future. We may never see the fruits of those labors but those tasks are not only important, they are imperative to our lives. It is the ultimate act of kindness and a pure heart to do things that are right even when we may never be able to see the beauty of those acts grow.
Preparation is not about knowing the future. It is about living in the moment and building the world around us in a way we would like to enjoy it. However we choose to prepare for our futures, what is important is that we are giving ourselves to the task of making life for our families and ourselves a better place to be. In those moments, we truly are pure in heart and the Kingdom of God is our reward.