So last night I was in the slough of despond regarding my parenting skills… I’m considering building a little cottage there as my visits are so frequent! 
We’re having a few issues with our oldest… Issues which were looming large in my mind as potential signs of looming disaster as he gets older. What ifs ran rampant. Despair rained down in a deluge.
Dude. What a bummer!
I was talking to my husband on the phone and I said unto him, “You know…I just wish I could trust my feelings. I feel like these problems are a HUGE deal… But I know it’s entirely possible that I’m exaggerating. He is a pretty good kid, overall. And how do we know these issues aren’t just temporary. And perhaps by making a big deal out of it….we’re only making things worse. But I just can’t tell!!!” I was rather frustrated, can you tell? 
Well, God is funny. And He’s very cool. He’s been telling me I needed to reread The Screwtape Letters for a few months, and I finally obeyed. (which is another story and will be told another time) I’m somewhere in the middle of the book. But I’m also rereading Emma, and I’m reading Einstein which is a library book… I got off the phone and decided I wanted to take a bath and read and Emma would be the obvious choice for pre-bedtime relaxation… But I was reminded that God wanted me to read Screwtape…so Screwtape it was. The letter I was in said this:
…Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead. […] To be sure, the Enemy wants men to think of the Future too - just so much as is necessary for now planning the acts of justice of charity which will probably be their duty tomorrow. The duty of planning the morrow’s work is today’s duty; though its material is borrowed from the future, the duty, like all duties, is in the Present. This is not straw splitting. He does not want men to give the Future their hearts, to place their treasure in it. We do. His ideal is a man who, having worked all day for the good of posterity (if that is his vocation), washes his mind of the whole subject, commits the issue to Heaven, and returns at once to the patience or gratitude demanded by the moment that is passing over him. But we want a man hag-ridden by the Future…
Note: If you aren’t familiar with C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, it is important to remember that this is a volume of strategic letters written from a Senior demon to a Junior tempter on how best to prevent the making and development of Christians. Therefore the “Enemy” referred to is God.
I make WAY too big a deal out of issues with my son(s)… and indeed out of many other issues, because I look to the future. I also use about 50 times the words I should when disciplining my son because I am trying to “parent the future”. I don’t just deal with the offense of the moment…I predict, I bemoan, I lament, and I label the potential behaviors of the future. (in my defense, I’ve oft heard that we are supposed to “reach the heart” and that’s what I was trying to do - but…) How much simpler to parent in the now and just say “Don’t do that.” or “What you just did was unacceptable and here’s the short reason why.” And then comes the hard part. I have to staple my lips shut, super glue my imagination, and leave the future and the results over to God. It sounds so hard to do, but I can just barely imagine the rewards. Fewer words. Less anger. Less worry and a much calmer Mommy… And I love the two options for my mental duties given in the quote. Either patience or gratitude.
Think about that.
Whatever I am facing - I can and MUST employ patience and/or gratitude. Worry is not an option. Predicting the future is not a choice. In everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you… Patience and gratitude. If I continually choose to focus on praising and thanking God, and trusting Him for the future, perhaps I might actually know that peace that passes understanding. (Because honestly, not worrying about the future is something I currently cannot understand) If I actually trust Him and obey in the now - then the future is not my problem. I have strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow! Whoa.
Commit your plans unto the Lord and your works will be established…. So that’s what that means!