Have you ever heard of Someday Isle? It actually exists. It is a resort on Coral Bay, St. John U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. Conversely, you know it as a phrase in this form, “Someday I’ll…” The phrase has been finished in a million different ways depending on one’s future intentions, but for most it seems an elusive destination, or a fantasy about something they wish to do, someday.

One thing is certain. Someday Isle keeps hope alive for many, and hopes for the future makes life worth living. We all want to believe that at some point in the future, possibilities exist for the consummation of a dream or the accomplishment of a goal. Without hope, we perish.

For some of us, those goals or dreams are accomplished, but they are immediately supervened by loftier enticements. The soul’s search never terminates at Someday Isle but instead is unappeasable. It cries out, “There is still time to accomplish more. Here is another dream to pursue.” So we press on with renewed enthusiasm.

However, there is a contrasting point of view to consider. In that case, Someday Isle may be a place we never intend to go, but we think that saying we might go has the ring of good intentions. When used in retrospect, we may tell ourselves things like, “Someday I’ll redo something from the past that could have been done better.” Just thinking it may make us feel better even if it is impossible to accomplish. For those, it seems more a deception than a plan of action.

Personally I’ve accomplished many things, some in spite of myself, but I’ve also failed miserably at some things even when I thought I was giving the project my best shot. Then I’ve insisted that someday I’ll revisit this or that and do it right next time. When we think in that frame of mind, we are often merely expressing regret. We know all too well there is usually no redo, so we’re not going. We may like to think of going to Someday Isle with the best of intentions, but we also know the old saying about the road to hell being paved with good intentions.

With all of its forward-looking possibilities we’ve discussed, in some instances Someday Isle is not without serious hazards to be considered. I’ll discuss the one I believe to be the most serious of these pitfalls…procrastination. The phrase, “someday I’ll” smacks of procrastination; it always points to a future time. Many times, we have the means to deal with the task at hand or resolve the problem immediately, but we employ this phrase and kick the proverbial can down the road. Then regret becomes a constant companion, and we find we must add other well-known phrases to this list, “I wish I had” and “I wish I had not…” I’ve heard it said by some that they would rather be sorry for something they’ve done rather than something they didn’t do. Still, procrastination and regret often go hand in hand.   

This applies to our spiritual life with even greater significance because the consequence is more severe than anything we will experience in this life and it is eternal. Dithering, or procrastinating, has been the topic of many revival sermons. Responding with “Someday I’ll come to Him when called by the Gospel of Christ” is always unwise. Today is the day of salvation. We have no guarantee we will be here tomorrow. This would definitely not be the time for can kicking. Regret will be the consequence, followed by the phrase “I wish I had…”