Don't Throw Away Tomorrow by Robert H. Schuller

First published: San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2005

Genre(s): Nonfiction

Subgenre(s): Guidebook; handbook for living

Core issue(s):Faith; hope; life; time; works and deeds

Overview

When Robert H. Schuller wrote his autobiography, My Journey: From an Iowa Farm to a Cathedral of Dreams (2001), at the age of seventy-five, he thought it would be his last book. However, he realized that being in what he called the fourth quarter of his life gave him a new perspective. He looked back on his life and discovered that he had always lived for tomorrow. While he planned in the present, the action that transformed those plans into reality took place in the future, his tomorrow.

This new perspective revealed to Schuller how many people throw away their future, and he decided to pass along the benefits of his knowledge and experience in a new book, Don’t Throw Away Tomorrow. Schuller writes that this book is his “testimony” on how to stay focused on dreams and how not to throw away the future.

According to Schuller, people throw away their tomorrow by not being ready to receive ideas as they come along, not accepting challenges and working through problems that arise, letting priorities get skewed, and letting goals get distorted. Other reasons he believes people throw away their tomorrow include being disappointed, tired, rejected, afraid to fail, and frustrated. The result is that people lose control of their lives and are influenced by negative thinking. With God’s help, people can use what Schuller calls possibility thinking to save their tomorrow.

“Positive thinking plus possibility thinking equals optimism” is a formula Schuller has developed to transform people into optimists. He believes that an optimist who believes in God has the power to do or to become anything and anyone that person wishes. The formula begins with positive thinking because it is necessary to first eliminate negative thinking and to develop a positive attitude. Possibility thinking, the next element in the formula, puts the dream into action. The result of these two elements coming together is optimism, which begins, continues with, and makes it possible to surmount problems.

Using that optimism is important in finding what mission each person has in life. When there is a goal, or mission, for the future, life takes on meaning and has purpose. Schuller also discusses the importance of choosing the values by which to live. He states that because people’s values will shape their destiny, they should choose them carefully so that they support the positive possibilities in life and suppress the negative aspects that arise.

Schuller explains that in addition to optimism, a mission, and values, people need rules in their lives. These rules form people’s moral conscience and enable them to be responsible enough to do the right thing and be a good person.

All this involves taking risks, and risks have costs. However, if fear prevents people from taking risks, they will throw away tomorrow, Schuller says. He suggests that people determine what investments in time, energy, emotion, and money are necessary for a particular risk, then ask themselves if the risk is worth it. Although some risks can be handled alone, there are times when it is necessary to ask for assistance, including help from God.

Other factors that come into play in Schuller’s formula for optimism include keeping the lines of communication open, dealing with life’s contradictions, and using assumptions positively, and he deals with each in a separate chapter.

Communication is an important element of any relationship, whether with a spouse, preacher, prisoner of war, missionary, or any other person. Sometimes, communication is used to form a positive relationship with an adversary. When dealing with a possible adversary, Schuller immediately finds an area of agreement with the person. This provides a positive starting point for their relationship.

Another factor addressed by Schuller is contradictions. Life contains a significant number of contradictions that need to be faced and dealt with rather than disregarded. How this is accomplished determines if tomorrow will be thrown away. Handling contradictions through creative compromise brings about positive results. Although compromise can have a negative meaning (such as when it involves compromising morals and ethics), positive compromise creatively deals with contradictions.

People live with assumptions; just as with contradictions, they are everywhere. Assumptions are usually considered to be negative; however, there are positive assumptions. An assumption is taking something as a fact or as a truth before it has been proven to be a fact or a truth. This is where faith enters. Schuller explains that faith and assumption “describe the same mental activity.” In addition, he describes people as “faith-driven or assumption-compelled creatures.” Thus, faith is a positive assumption.

Schuller does not assure people they will change the world, but he does believe they can change their personal world. This is accomplished by believing in tomorrow. He asserts his belief in God and in tomorrow through these words: “I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow.”

Christian Themes

Don’t Throw Away Tomorrow is a book based entirely on faith, as demonstrated by the title. The word “tomorrow” indicates belief in a future. When the media is filled with accounts of war, death, disease, starvation, environmental destruction, and cruelty, it is difficult to get past the present and look forward to or expect a future. According to Schuller, this type of negative thinking results in throwing away tomorrow.

Schuller believes this type of negative thinking is countered through faith in God along with an optimistic attitude. Faith in God is the foundation, and an optimistic attitude forms the pillars that hold the future (tomorrow). It is evident through Schuller’s writing that he believes everything rests on faith in God. The subtitle of the work includes the words “God’s dream,” which is a reference to the future. Dreams may occur in the present, but they are about the future. Schuller’s message is that God has a future (dream) for your life.

The issue of faith also includes faith in oneself. Again, the title is an indication of the importance Schuller places on faith. The subtitle includes the self through the word “your.” The word “tomorrow” in the title indicates your tomorrow, not anyone else’s. According to Schuller, for you to fulfill God’s dream for your life, you need to have faith that there will be a future.

Faith is not without hope. Schuller’s formula, which combines positive thinking with possibility thinking to form optimism, is his way of producing hope. The opposite of optimism is pessimism. Pessimists do not believe they can do anything worthwhile; they feel that anything they attempt is doomed to fail and there is nothing right with life. In other words, there is no hope. Schuller provides his formula for hope and, throughout his book, gives examples of people who have made their lives meaningful through faith and hope.

Schuller wrote this book to help people live God-centered, optimistic lives. He uses the experiences of a variety of people to show how others have achieved this lifestyle. Many of these people have had to overcome terrible obstacles; however, through their works and deeds, they prove that such a life is attainable.

Sources for Further Study

Booth, Mark, ed. What I Believe: Thirteen Eminent People of Our Time Argue for Their Philosophy of Life. New York: Crossroad, 1984. This book presents Schuller’s philosophy of life along with those of other notables such as Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Martin Sheen, James Thurber, and H. G. Wells.

Schuller, Robert H. My Journey: From an Iowa Farm to a Cathedral of Dreams. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. Schuller’s inspirational autobiography tells of his successes and the painful ordeals he and his family experienced and overcame by turning them into possibilities.

Schuller, Robert H. Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do! New York: Bantam-Random, 1983. In Don’t Throw Away Tomorrow, Schuller recommends that people read or reread this work, in which he tells how to weather hard times and how to build a positive self-image.