Can you smile at the future?

I was reading Proverbs 31 to prepare for tonight's small group. And one particular phrase that describes the "excellent wife" caught my eye. It's in v.25: "And she smiles at the future." We often fear the future, so that we frown at it. If we smile, it's often wishful thinking - as though we were smiling at a wished-for future, rather than the real future. But the excellent wife smiles at the future. I would like to smile at the future, too. What would that take? Here is the start of my answer: (1) Trust in the Lord (Prov 3:5-6), so that you don't have to fear the future. (2) Fear the Lord (1:7, and many other places in Proverbs), taking His word seriously and obeying it, so that you can be confident that you will not do things that bring unnecessary difficulty into your life. (3) Put your hope in God's eternal plan. Even if the more immediate future may involve challenges and suffering, the eventual and never-ending future will surpass our wildest dreams. (4) Train your children to fear the Lord, and not just to behave in certain ways. Many of our fears of the future are related to the well-being of our children. But if we teach our children to do numbers 1,2, and 3, above, we can look forward to their futures with confidence and optimism.