Tomorrow

"The Responsible Woman" by James C. Christensen

"There is a danger in the word someday when what it means is 'not this day.'...The scriptures make the danger of delay clear. It is that we may discover that we have run out of time. The God who gives us each day as a treasure will require an accounting. We will weep, and He will weep, if we have intended to repent and to serve Him in tomorrows which never came or have dreamt of yesterdays where the opportunity to act was past. This day is a precious gift of God. The thought 'Someday I will' can be a thief of the opportunities of time and the blessings of eternity."

--Henry B. Eyring, "This Day", Ensign, May 2007, 89–91

In early January, I was fortunate enough to have my mother come to stay with us for two whole weeks. I adore my mom, and I regularly call her several times a week. It had been nine months since I had last seen her in person, and I was so excited for her visit, but I was also feeling really self-conscious. During my recent pregnancy, I had developed some bad habits, especially in the homemaking realm, and then when adding the new baby in the mix, the house wasn't exactly ready for company. I didn't want her to come to a messy house! The kids and I rolled up our sleeves, and put the house in decent order-- or so I thought.

When my mother arrived, the clutter that I had missed around the house seemed to come out of nowhere, and I was so embarrassed! But my saintly mother did not scold, or say one negative word. She just went to work! In no time, the laundry was caught up, the kitchen was sparkling more than it had in months, and everything just felt... right.

During her visit, I began to watch her closely. And I also began to see my bad habits more clearly. Probably the worst bad habit I had recently acquired was procrastination. But I noticed that when my kids asked my mom to read them a book, or play a game with them, she never put them off. She immediately spent time with them. She did the same with the laundry, or the dishes. She never said, “I'll do it later,” rather, she got it done quickly and right away. I realized that this concept of “do it NOW” had fallen out of my vocabulary! I also saw the happiness in the eyes of my children, and the peacefulness that filled our home. I wanted that feeling to stay, long after my mom returned home. How grateful I am for her inspiring, non-judging example. She never lectured, she never said one word. But the message rang clear.

I cannot say that our home is still in perfect order, but the lesson learned still lingers. I am trying to take care of things when I see them, or think about them. I can see how avoiding problems, jobs, or situations does not lessen the pain, it increases it. I don't want to come to the end of my life and regret the wasted time, the relationships that could have been, or the better person I might have become. I love the saying, “If not me, who? And if not now, when?” I want to become better everyday. And I'm working on it.

I want to share a poem we read in our homeschool today that sums up my feelings best. It's called,

“What Have We Done Today?”
We shall do much in the years to come,
But what have we done today?
We shall give our gold in a princely sum,
But what did we give today?
We shall lift the heart and dry the tear,
We shall plant a hope in the place of fear,
We shall speak the words of love and cheer,
But what did we speak today?

We shall be so kind in the after while,
But have we been today?
We shall bring to each lonely life a smile,
But what have we brought today?
We shall give to truth a grander birth,
And to steadfast faith a deeper worth,
We shall feed the hungering souls of earth,
But whom have we fed today?

We shall reap such joys in the by and by,
But what have we sown today?
We shall build us mansions in the sky,
But what have we built today?
'Tis sweet in the idle dreams to bask;
But here and now, do we our task?
Yet, this is the thing our souls must ask,
What have we done today?