Will The Sun Rise Tomorrow?

We Do Not Know

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man. Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Matthew 24:36-44

Will the sun rise tomorrow?

Certainly we assume the sun will rise, and that the sun will set again in the evening. We assume that what has happened every day will continue to happen, without fail.

We construct laws of physics which tell us not only that the sun will rise tomorrow, but why the sun will rise—and why the sun must rise.

So we can be certain that the sun will rise tomorrow…can’t we?

Might the sun go supernova and essentially explode? That seems unlikely…..but it is possible.

Might a mammoth asteroid impact the earth, shattering the planet? That seems unlikely…but it is possible.

We know these things are possible because there have been movies made about such disasters. We know such things are possible because astronomers have documented stars exploding, and asteroids smashing into the Earth.

If these things did happen then the sun would not rise tomorrow. The sun would be gone, or the Earth would be gone—and in either case we would be gone which would make the distinctions moot.

Yet if we know such things are possible then we don’t know the sun will rise tomorrow. We don’t know when the day will come that the sun no longer rises. We don’t know when the day will come that the Earth will be no more.

For all of our science, we simply do not know.

We know that each of us will eventually shuffle off this mortal coil, but none of us knows when it will be our time to pass.

We know that for every beginning there will be an ending, but we do not know when that ending will come.

What would we do different if we did know?

If you knew tomorrow was your last day of life, how would you live it?

If you knew the day after tomorrow the world would end, how would you spend the time remaining?

Tomorrow could be your last day of life.

The day after tomorrow the world could end.

These things could happen.

We know these things could happen.

We take comfort in the belief that these things are not likely to happen tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, or even the day after next year, but that is a belief only. For some, it is a false hope, for tomorrow not everyone who sees the sun rise will see the sun set, and not everyone who witnesses the sun setting tonight will see the sun rise tomorrow.

Tomorrow could be your last day of life.

The day after tomorrow the world could end.

These things could happen.

We know these things could happen.

If you knew tomorrow was your last day of life, how would you live it?

Why are you not living that way today? Why are you waiting to live as deeply and as profoundly as possible?

If you knew the day after tomorrow the world would end, how would you spend the time remaining?

Why are you not spending your time that way today? Why are you postponing attending to what you value most, and what you treasure most deeply?

We do not know when our particular endings will come, but we do know that our particular endings will come.

We do not know when we will have to give account for the life we have lived, but we do know that we will have to give account.

If there are things we would change knowing we will have to give account, we have it within ourselves to change them now. We do not need to wait until the end is near. We should not wait until the end is near. We are not called to wait until the end is near.

However each of us would live the last day of our lives is how we are called to live every day. Whatever would seem most precious on that final day is what we are called to see as most precious every day.

My prayer for you is that you will see today what would seem most precious on that final day.

My prayer for you is that you will live each day with the awareness and the presence that you might have knowing it was the final day.

We do not know if the sun will rise tomorrow. We do know there is a tomorrow when the sun will not rise.

We know there is a day that will be the last day.

And we know we are called to live this day accordingly.