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In the sermon on the mount, Jesus says these well-known words, ‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.’

Its good advice given by today’s many practitioners of mindfulness and echoed in many faith traditions; stay in the moment, don’t be anxious about what is outside of your control, not all of life’s demands can be met by your own power. But there’s a danger this advice leads us to put off what really needs to be done today. There’s always a balance to be struck between living for today and being responsible for the future.

Successive governments have grappled for years with how to fund the NHS and social care, particularly for an ageing population. Yesterday the Prime Minister announced the Governments plans to deal with this, by raising the rate of National Insurance by 1.25% . This has led to questions about the pressures this will place on different groups of people, especially the young and the low waged.

It’s a good principle that the younger generation who were cared for by their elders look after that generation in their turn, but we have to recognise that few young people today earn enough to get on the property ladder without parental support. In these circumstances one could argue that the older have an ongoing responsibility for the younger generation. (In fact) there is mutual flourishing when we take responsibly for each other.

While we might not wish to burden ourselves with plans for tomorrow, the life we live most fully in the moment is often the life we have prepared for; the wedding that was planned, the recent Paralympics that involved years of training, or the prize-winning novel which went through several drafts.

When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, he wasn’t just talking about a future reality but a vision of an earthly society that has to be prepared for now in our decisions and in our actions.

In the classic 1963 film Lilies of the field, the character Juan grapples with the contrast of what he is working with now and what he is building for the future, he says, ‘A man, he gives wood... bricks. In time, what does he get? A chapel... a place where his children can receive the sacraments’.

The just and healthy society we are aiming for, where people are well cared for by the state where necessary, that’s the society we need to start building now.

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