Rosebuds, Lilies and "I Like Ike"

In the July/August issue of AARP Bulletin, editor Jim Toedtman provides an interesting thought-piece entitled "All Together, Let's Like Ike." In it he talks about Former President Eisenhower's concerns for the future, and quotes from his televised farewell address:

"As we peer into society's future, we-you and I, and our government-must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow."

Toedtman urges his readers to decide what we want government to do, and then find the means to finance it; to rebalance our spending and the taxes we pay in a way that relies less of selfishness (today) and more on the resources of tomorrow. He ends with this: "Our challenge is to balance our short-term desires with future needs."

Poet Robert Herrick (1591-1674) also wrote about the dynamic tension between the present and the future in his poem Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May (To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time).

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying:

And this same flower that smiles today

To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of Heaven, the sun,

The higher he's a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run.

And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse, and worst

Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,

And while ye may, go marry:

For having lost but once your prime,

You may for ever tarry."

Some people believe that the message of this poem is to live only for today. Herrick certainly offers incentive and enthusiasm for living life fully, seizing opportunities as they appear, and making the most of every day. He does not, however, advise against preparing for tomorrow. He just doesn't address that need.

In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus offers us his advice.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today."

When Jesus says "do not worry about tomorrow" he doesn't necessarily mean do not do anything to prepare for the future. After all, in the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) Jesus gives advice about being prepared. Instead, Jesus is saying that if we "strive for the kingdom of God and his righteousness," we will receive what we need. If we strive to be the kind of people that God created in his own image -- just, compassionate, loving, charitable -- then we will all be blessed with God's bounty.

"From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." (John 1:16)