Looking to the future

It seems like it was a forever ago that I started on this journey.  Three weeks ago, I was in Platteville, Wisconsin.  Two weeks ago, I was in Chicago for YAGM orientation.  One week ago I was in Buenos Aires for in-country orientation.  Now I am in Montevideo, Uruguay which I get to call my home for the next year or so.  At each step of my journey, I have waited to see what the next step will be like.  While waiting for the Van Galder bus to Chicago, on the plane to Buenos Aires, on the ferry to Montevideo, I sat with trepidation to know my future.  Even now, although I am getting more familiar with what my daily life will be like, I still cannot anticipate the joys and challenges that I will experience.  The following prayer, which was shared at the YAGM orientation in Chicago, speaks to the feelings of fear, excitement and confusion that we experience when considering our unknown futures.


The Prayer of Good Courage

O God, you have called us
To ventures where we cannot see the end
By paths never yet taken
Through perils unknown
Give us good courage
Not knowing where we go
To know that your hand is leading us
Wherever we may go
Amen


Something else to think about: We often see our future as being ahead of us and our past being behind us.  However, the Tuvan people of Central Asian steppes believe just the opposite.  The steppes are mostly large relatively flat grasslands.  If there is a wolf a mile away, you will probably see it.  So for Tuvans it never made much sense to believe the future was ahead of you when you are accustomed to seeing danger from long distances.  Instead, the Tuvan believe that your past, in terms of its spatial position, is actually in front of you, while the future, entirely unknown, is behind you.  That same wolf you could see from a mile away, would be unknown to you if it was physically behind you.

Reading the Prayer of Good Courage with a Tuvan perspective on time, at least for me, augments the significance of the prayer.  If my future was physically ahead of me, I might have an inkling of what would happen.  However, it is impossible to know your future, just like you have no idea what is behind you while your eyes are reading this blog post..LOOK OUT!!! (just kidding)  But on a more serious note, we do not know and cannot predict the path God has made for us.  So whether you think the future is behind you, or if you agree with Timon & Pumba and believe your past is behind you, what is important it that regardless of where your future is, God will be there.