We have to take the chance of our present to make the future we want. All religions urge us to use our potentials to make our future. The first step of makِing our future is to believe that you have a role you should do.
Making future is deeply connected with the past. Our experiences are not but an outcome of the situations we faced and dealt with either in a right or wrong way. That experience helps us to learn how to make the right future decisions and accordingly our chance to make a better future is great.
Avoid the conflict between your past and present as it will absorb your entire energy to think and work for your future. Churchill says, “If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.” John Kennedy also said “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.” Thus let us recognize the mistake we made in our past to make a better future.
Once upon a time there was a water carrier who used to hold a long stick consists of two jars one on his left and the other on his right. One of the jars was cracked and the water was leaking out of it. He made use of it by planting some seeds of flowers on the road from the well to the house and let water that flew out of the jar to water them. After a while, the road looked great when the flowers grew. He used the crack in the jar the best way. When making future, use your past mistakes to achieve future success.
You should also have a clear vision of your future. If you walk in a dark road, you are surely to stumble and the same goes for your future if you do not have a plan for it. They say “It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.”
Our vision of the future is the only way to achieve success. To have a vision of your future, you should determine your short and long term goals. Planning for your goals this way would encourage you to work diligently and have enough patience to fight obstacles and achieve your dreams. Every day, there was a man who took the bus to go to work. One stop later, an elderly woman would board the bus and sat next to the window. The old woman opened a bag and during the whole trip she would pick something from the bag and throw it out the window. She always did the same and one day, intrigued, the man asked her what she was throwing out the window.
– They’re seeds! – said the old woman.
– Seeds? What kind of seeds?
– Flowers seeds. I look outside and everything is so empty … I would like to travel each day and see beautiful flowers all the way. Wouldn’t it be nice?
The man told her that it would be hard that the seeds germinate and bloom on the asphalt.
She answered that some may eventually do and bloom. The man thought she was crazy.
-“I just do what I can. The rainy days will come soon.”
A few months later, the man was going to work as usual in the bus and when he looked out the window he saw beautiful flowers by the side of the road… All the way as far as he could see, a splendor of colorful flowers was beautifying the scenery. He then remembered the old lady but it had been weeks since he last saw her. He asked the driver: what about the old lady with her flower seeds?
-Well, unfortunately she died a month ago.
The man returned to his seat and continued looking out the window at the bright and vibrant scenery.”Indeed, the flowers have bloomed”, he thought, ‘but what was the purpose of all that work, she could not even see them bloom?”….
Suddenly, he heard the laughter of a small child. A little girl was pointing excited looking at the flowers … “Look, how many nice flowers!” Hence he realized what the lady has done for others.
If we want our future to blossom, we should have a vision of it…to be continued
General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
