Contentment in How Tomorrow Will Come Soon Enough

I’ve experienced many off-days in the past couple years with my vitamin deficiencies. And after struggling through a few weak miles, exhausted, I’ve learned to stop myself and say, “I’ll try again tomorrow.”

And after resting for that day, I would start over with the sunrise. Sometimes I would do better the next day.

And sometimes I’d do worse.

I learned to take it by the day. Take it by the day and realize that this one broken day couldn’t break me. Take it by the day and look forward to the better days to come.

The better days always came in their own time.

Striving for the milestones

I’ll never forget the first time I ran a mile without stopping. No, I didn’t run it in a fast time—It was more like a jog. But for a rising sixth-grader who had just started training, it felt like enough.

Now, jogging a mile feels like nothing. But back then, my heart swelled with joy at hitting the simple one-mile mark.

Until I decided that my time wasn’t fast enough. And one mile wasn’t enough.

I had to get faster, I had to get stronger, because in my mind, it just wasn’t enough.

And how often in this life do we rejoice in reaching one milestone, only to find ourselves dissatisfied again? How quickly do we obsess over the next mark to hit, instead of celebrating how far we’ve come?

There’s a certain rhythm of thought that corrupts my mindset.

I have to break this time because all the fast runners can.

Because I haven’t improved in forever.

Because I need to qualify for State.

It’s the next milestone, it’s what I’m supposed to do, it’s just how life works…

So often I get too far ahead of myself. There’s nothing wrong with having these goals, but taking them too far causes me to put an extra pressure on myself.

Suddenly, those goals become the security of my identity.

Have you ever felt that?

It makes me realize how valuable it is to place our identity in Christ and not in reaching the milestones. When you find fulfillment in Him, you can more easily accept where you are, even when you’re not in your season to bloom.

It’s the truth behind contentment that Paul describes in Philippians 4.

“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.”

~Philippians 4:11-12, ESV

Contentment refers to not just what you have, but where you are.

And you belong where you are right now, my reader. Just breathe in the fresh air and look at the milestone standing beside you now. There is a milestone here. Maybe it doesn’t stand as tall beside the road, maybe it’s hidden in the shadows…

But it’s there.

It’s there, even if it’s as small as carrying on for another day. Taking another breath. Trusting in your Savior for another step.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

~Phillipians 4:13, NKJV

Philippians 4:13 is one of those Bible verses easily taken out of context. Essentially, it refers to how Christ will give us the strength, and fulfillment, to have contentment.

With the strength of Christ, you can accept where you are.

You can accept the off-days. Those days when you know that you should have more physical strength. Strength that you can’t seem to muster from under the weight of your hurting legs.

But you can accept those days. You may not find inside your physical body the strength to finish your goal—many times I haven’t—but that’s okay.

You don’t always have to finish, and that’s okay.

Because you’re accepting where you are—and sometimes, you’re in an off-day. Sometimes, you’re in an off-season.

For the past two springs in track, I’ve had an off-season. And coming off a winter in which I put so much effort into the hope of succeeding, I had a hard time accepting my season.

And I had a hard time accepting myself.

As I’ve struggled to find contentment, I hope that God will help it grow in my heart a little more each day.

Contentment will help you to see the beauty in the broken days. It will remind you that as you wait for the sunrise, you can still look up at the stars.

When you aren’t changing the world

Many times, I’ve found myself thinking that, when I get to some next stage, my life will “finally start.”

When I reach this milestone, I’ll be satisfied.

When this year ends, it’ll all get better.

And when tomorrow comes, I’ll—

And then it suddenly hit me: My life has already started.

So why was I always waiting there, as if I would wake up one day with my life “all together”, ready to face the world?

My life has already started, and I’m not “changing the world” today. Today isn’t that time. Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday, I will stir a thousand hearts.

But today, I can (as Mother Teresa put it), “do small things with great love.” I can find purpose in the simple things, and accept my current place.

It reminds me of something that I’ve told myself at practice lately:

Today isn’t the day you try to qualify for State. That day will come soon enough.

Maybe in a few months, maybe someday, you’ll make it… but not today.

And that’s okay.

Maybe I’ll make State one day. Maybe I won’t.

And maybe I’ll “change the world” one day, but maybe I won’t.

Does it really matter?

Because perhaps… perhaps giving one weary heart the courage to keep beating means just as much as stirring a thousand hearts for Christ.

If we choose to live a life for Christ, we’ll make an impact for Him.

And we can find contentment in that.

Trusting God with our tomorrows

Tomorrow doesn’t always look like what we would hope or expect.

And yet, even on the broken days we come back having learned something, having grown a little stronger. Even if it’s learning how give yourself the grace to rest and say “I’ll try again tomorrow.”

I used to see those words as a sign of weakness. I would work myself to the bone to cope with my fear of tomorrow’s potential failure. Essentially, I tried to control tomorrow’s outcome by training hard.

God showed me the freedom that comes with laying tomorrow in His hands.

“Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

~James 4:14, ESV

Tomorrow could be worse, but I treasure the possibility that it could also be better.

And as Christians, we can live in the hope that tomorrow will always come.

Seeing yourself where you are

Sometimes on the broken days we have to lift our heads and say, “I’ll try again tomorrow.”

Sometimes we have to stop in the middle of the road and let ourselves catch our breath. And let ourselves come inside for the fuel of a nice meal, for warming by the fireplace, for seeking shelter in the storm.

For enjoying life and finally accepting where we are (Eccl. 3:12).

For seeing ourselves where we are today, because tomorrow will come soon enough.

And tomorrow will be made beautiful in its time, as will today (Eccl. 3:11).

But the cold, dark night and the waiting for the sunrise—

It can take longer than just a night. Waiting for tomorrow can mean waiting for more than a day.

The rising of the sun over the mountaintop and the peeking of the light through the clouds—

That next stage of life, tomorrow—

It’ll all come someday, I promise.

But for now, I want you to see yourself where you are. Here in the waiting. The resting. The growing.

You’re in a beautiful process, and somewhere in your heart, you have the strength to smile at your Savior and say, “I know that You’ll carry me to tomorrow.”