Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need... roads."
- Doc Brown (Back To The Future)
It's a little bit of a shock to realize that the future that Marty and Doc (and the sudden appearance of Elizabeth Shue) arrived in is next year for the rest of us - 2015. All those cool gadgets we were looking forward to, auto-fit clothing, hover boards, flying cars - haven't exactly shown up yet. That far off year of 2015, with all of its promise, still lies a tad out of reach. Well, not the year so much, just the promise. Somewhere between 1985 and now, the future just... happened.
So what does the future look like?
Well, to quote another movie, "Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future." (I'll give you a second to recall who said that one). The funny thing about the future is that it always feels way past tomorrow, a stone's throw away from today where we heave our hopes, our plans and the things we feel are just not possible today. The future has potential... endless potential. It's that time when we will be able to write that novel, that song, spend time with our kids, catch up with our friends, travel. It's that promotion we think we'll have, the wisdom we feel we'll have surely gained, the point beyond the struggles of "now". It's a treasure chest of dreams and mile markers, and storage for missed opportunities of today. But, somewhere between then and now, the future just... happened.
So often are we enamored with the prospects of tomorrow that we forget today is the future we were so eager to embrace yesterday.
Did you miss that?
Today IS tomorrow... (okay, now I've made you go cross-eyed... sorry...) we blink, open our eyes, and it's the future date we thought about when we were 15. But, for some reason, we miss it. We keep thinking that the future is still that stone's throw away... and since we aren't ready for it, all of the things we looked forward to get pushed a little further...
down...
the...
road.
As a creature of imagination, I tend to get lost in tomorrow. I picture what it will look like in a few years... but when those few years become a few weeks, a few days,... when they become today, my eyes are still gazing off in the distance. Man, I can NOT wait for tomorrow.
But,...
...imagine if we lived out the potential of today, this moment. Not in some superhuman or unreasonable way... but really treated today as it should be, the treasure chest of dreams and mile markers... a chance to not miss opportunities. I believe this more and more each day, that the best way to have a future you want is to create, embrace and build on the present you have. In my faith, that reminds me that eternity doesn't start sometime down the road, eternity is in the steps I take - today.
Years ago, I had an idea of what today would look like and was excited about the future with all of its plans and possibilities. Today, not only am I still enamored with tomorrow, but I'm realizing just how incredibly cool today is...
...even without the hover boards.