The future

While idling behind several cars at a stoplight, I happened to glance at the parking hang tag from my employer that's hooked on the rear-view mirror. "This tag expires on 08/19/19," the tag states.

Hmmm . . . that's almost three years. Will I still be employed here in three years? Will I outlast the tag? Or will the tag outlast me?

Cars begin to move on the green light, so I follow through the intersection as I head home from an event. Thinking about the word "future" floods my mind with this dialogue from the 1972 classic movie, "What's Up, Doc?":

In a mid-movie scene, Judy Maxwell (Barbra Streisand) asks Howard Bannister (Ryan O'Neal), "What's wrong?"

Howard replies, "The future."

Judy says, "What's the matter with it?"

Howard responds, "Judging from the recent past . . ."

Judy continues, "Edmond Burke said, 'You can never plan the future by the past.' "

And so they go on, trying to cope with the fate of crossing each other's paths and impacting each other in zany ways.

Back to me — I'll just keep on in ministry and see what God has in mind for me to make it or not to the hang tag date. I don't have to decide that now. But I did just get a new roll of 300 printed address labels. . . .

[Nancy Linenkugel is a Sylvania Franciscan sister and chair of the department of Health Services Administration at Xavier University in Cincinnati.]