Red Gerard is a pretty typical 17-year-old. He loves skateboarding and golf … and Netflix. On Saturday, February 9th he stayed up late into the night binge-watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine on Netflix. The next morning his alarm went off at 6:00, but he did not stir. It wasn’t until his roommate came to drag him out of bed that he realized he had overslept on one of the most important days of his life, and now he couldn’t find his coat.
After borrowing his friend’s jacket, Red grabbed a late bus to the mountain and proceeded to win America’s first gold medal at this year’s Winter Olympics. This makes him the youngest American man to win gold in over ninety years. His day had gotten off to a rough start, but he showed up anyway and achieved great things.
In Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus tells a parable of a man who is hiring labor for his vineyard. Even into the very last hour of the workday he goes out and hires workers and pays them for showing up. God understands that you can’t change the past. You can’t go back in time for missed opportunities or to fix mistakes. All you can do is move forward from where you are, and that’s exactly what He expects you to do.
Maybe you find yourself running behind. It could be that you didn’t start working toward your goals. Maybe you couldn’t find the resources or opportunities you needed. Whatever the case, today is the best day to start toward your goals.