The Weight of the Future…

Most of us at times feel overpowered and depressed by the tasks that lie before us, by the undone things that we have yet to do. A young man, for example, may look ahead at what he feels he must accomplish before he can feel somewhat settled: the years of school that are required; the time it takes for special preparation; the possibility of military service; the matter of marriage and the making of a home. And the time, the money, the effort and the years ahead may all seem to weigh on him at once.

Many of us have been through it. It is almost as if a man should look at a mortgage, and feel somehow that he has to pay it all right now instead of meeting it monthly. It is almost as if a mother should look at the mountains of meals she must prepare in a long lifetime, and feel that she must plan and prepare them all at once. But fortunately life is lived a day at a time. And while we must plan and prepare and earnestly move toward our ultimate objectives, the obligations of the future need not weigh us down as if they were all due and payable today. Indeed, if we were to let all future requirements worry and weigh upon us as if they were all due today, our present effectiveness would be impaired to the point where we would be less able to do what is due today.

To you, young man, looking forward with a long future before you: don’t let it weigh on you as if you had to carry all its weight at once. Do well now what should now be done, and as the past has brought you to this point, so the future will take you further. You can’t complete the whole curriculum in one week of worrying, nor even in one year of working. You can’t take final steps until you have completed the prerequisites. And don’t let the process become needlessly and painfully congested by trying to force too much of the future through channels that were made for present capacity.

To look ahead at the whole load and try to carry the weight of it all at once could depress and discourage and defeat any of us. With faith and work we may move the mountain in parts and in pieces. And with faith and work we can meet the obligations and opportunities of life by looking at the years ahead as a load that can be lifted a little at a time and not as one that weighs upon us all at once.