Go Fly A Kite

“Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” (Pr 27:1 AV)

 

The understanding of this verse is simply enough.  We should not plan for tomorrow what can be done today.  Solomon was not suggesting tomorrow may not come.  We can see that from the second part of the verse.  Solomon’s advice is to not boast of tomorrow because when tomorrow comes, there will be things that we did not expect nor could we plan for.  Some emergencies happen.  Some complications crop up.  There are plans that others made for you of which you were unaware at the time.  The point our wise Sage is trying to convey is if there is something that can be done today, then it is wise to do so.  The opportunity to accomplish something may not arise tomorrow.  Today is the day it needs to be done.

When we kids, we used to go to our local park and fly kites.  We could only afford the cheap ones.  You know.  The ones you bought at the five-and-dime for a quarter or so.  You’d take it home, fold the supports out, strap on the sail, and make your own tail out of old rags.  We would get a bunch of kite string and make our own spool.  A twelve-inch long one by six would do nicely.  Notched out at both ends, we fastened wooden thread spools on the diagonal corners.  This enabled the flyer to wind up his kite at he brought it in.  The thing about flying a kite is one needs time and opportunity.  The weather had to be perfect.  Enough wind to fly the kite but not too much.  Otherwise, the wind would rip your kite apart.  There were many times I and my siblings would climb atop our bikes and, ride the two or three blocks to our neighborhood park, and get our kites skyward.  Experience would tell you that wind is a finicky thing.  We would learn the winds aloft were different from the winds closer to the ground.  To get that kite up and staying up, one needed a strong ground wind but once that kite was high enough, the winds aloft were much more consistent.  The flyer had to get his kite in the air while there was enough ground wind.  If he did not, it would never soar with the eagles.

This principle is true no matter the case.  There are opportune times to accomplish one’s goal and there are times when it is not.  Opportunity, as it is said, only knocks once.  That may not be true all of the time.  But it is true enough of the time that using an opportunity is the better part of wisdom.  When thinking of things that are more of a duty, then doing so in a timely fashion is the wise thing.  When we see something that needs to be fixed, it is smarter to do that sooner than later.  Waiting until later may only make the breach all the worse.  Solomon knows a good administrator does not procrastinate.  He knows how to prioritize and he is disciplined to ensure what needs to get does is done immediately.  Boasting of tomorrow when we cannot guarantee what tomorrow will bring is a foolish thing.