Discipline for the Future
When Ronald Reagan was president, the nation’s debt was less than $1 trillion. When Barack Obama was president, the debt was $10.6 trillion. In 2010, the debt was about $14 trillion, and now the debt is about $25 trillion, and climbing. We have been stealing money from future generations at the rate of more than $100 million an hour, and yet most of us don't seem to care.
How could an individual, community, and nation ignore such an evident problem?
Sometimes we ignore the obvious for the more urgent obvious. If I am hungry today, my hunger is the urgent obvious problem that can be solved if I obtain the resources to solve problem. In solving my urgent problem, I am creating a long-term problem from which, at some time, there is no solution.
Urgent situations are not new and will always arise and be urgent. We should not be surprised when they come even though we might be surprised by their timing.
For example, we all know that we will one day die. The idea of death is not a surprise to anyone, yet most will be surprised on the day it happens. Being surprised is not being unprepared, yet being unprepared causes the surprise to be disastrous.
Those who live stable lives realize the inevitability of death, and are prepared, making the surprise manageable, whereas, those who live as if it will not happen end up in a terrible situation.
Those who live in reality know about the unknown and prepare for it. They realize that cars will wear out, appliances will break down, and sickness will happen. Once again, they are not surprised by such events, yet are surprised as to when they happen.
People who live in debt will need to pay that debt, even when unplanned disasters strike, so they need to live disciplined lives today in preparation for such things.
A nation that is living beyond their means will not be able to sustain an economic shutdown of any length, and since they are unprepared, they will become more indebted, and ever more focused on the moment.
This focus will make the future irrelevant, and it will cause a whole generation to be unprepared for the inevitable.
The answers are not difficult, but the actions are difficult. To be prepared for what is to come, we need to be disciplined in the moment. We need to act now as if we are capable of catching this new virus, and we need to take actions to prevent its transmission. We need to live on less than our current incomes, and make sure we have a reserve for lean days that will come. We need to know today that our relationship with God, our family, and those we love is healthy, so that when our future becomes our present, we will need no more time to adjust.
Satan is a manipulator, and manipulators are excellent at encouraging us to focus on the pressing moments over the inevitable future.
We will all face a future that is different than today, and those who prepare for that day will have no regrets.
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