There was no milk for my cereal in the fridge when I woke up one early sunny holiday morning. I jumped in the car and rode the four blocks to the grocery store. My windshield was somewhat frosted but not enough for me to scrape it. I bought the milk and when I turned onto the road from the parking lot to go home, the sun shone brightly through the frosted window of the car. It was easy to see through the windshield when the sun was behind me, but now the glare prevented me from clearly seeing through it. Immediately my gaze concentrated on the spaces between the frosted flakes and after deliberately ignoring the beautiful flakes, I could see my path ahead.
Within me I knew that much in our life is like those beautiful frosted flakes on the windshield. They are so much in our face, that they demand priority over all else, preventing us from seeing the important things in life.
Prosperity and well-being is a beautiful thing and John spoke of them as a blessing (1) but when like the frosted flakes on the windshield, they become the focus of our lives, we are sure to crash, as we can no longer see clearly the path that is before us.
In a very similar way, there many effects of the fall of mankind that can also keep us from seeing and living the pathway ahead of us. Poverty, sickness, addictions and many others can wave so closely before our eyes, that we forget the goodness and grace of God.
Learn to gaze through the flakes of this natural world and see the wonder and the fullness of the kingdom of heaven. “The things that are not, are more real than the things that are (2).”
(1) 3 John 1:2
(2) cf Heb 11:3
See also Col 3:2
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