The world is a tapestry of unyielding injustices, and looking upon it often feels like standing before a vast, churning ocean with nothing but a thimble in one’s hand. In the face of such scale, the human heart seeks a hiding place. We find that refuge in the geography of time—specifically, in a land called “Another Day.”
We look back at the chronology of our lives and see how “Another Day” evolved to fit the seasons:
- In Youth: We were the apprentices of life. We told ourselves we lacked the wisdom, the standing, or the resources to move the needle. We were “still learning,” and surely, once we knew enough, we would act.
- In Mid-life: We became the architects of survival. The weight of family, the climb of the career, and the immediate demands of those who shared our table took every ounce. We told ourselves that once the “nest was empty,” we would finally turn our gaze toward the horizon.
- In Autumn: When the quiet finally arrived and the kids were gone, we found that the spirit was willing but the frame had grown fragile. Physical limitations became the new gatekeepers.
The mind is a master architect of procrastination. It will always find a reason why today is for surviving. Yet, when we find ourselves in the valley of despair—when our health fails, when our hearts break, or when we are lost—we do not cry out for help to arrive “another day.” If we seek the Divine, or even the hand of a neighbor, we seek it now. We understand that in our moments of greatest vulnerability, “another day” is not just an unacceptable response; it is heartbreaking.
Perhaps the remedy for our perceived limitations is to realize that the “mere human being” was never meant to solve the world’s injustices alone. We are only asked to offer what we have in the season we are currently in.
If we are young, we offer our energy. If we are busy, we offer our crumbs of time. If we are old, we offer our hard-won wisdom. The tragedy isn’t that we are limited; the tragedy is that we wait for a “perfect” version of ourselves to appear before we decide to act.
Today is the only day that actually exists. If we wait for the day we have no excuses, we will pass with our hands still full of unused light.
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