April 20, 2005

[Rev. Doc]

The Bigger Picture Of Life

"Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight."
2 Corinthians 5:6-7

He lived "way out in the sticks." Maybe it wasn't exactly the end of the earth, but you could see it from there. Then he won an all-expenses-paid trip to New York by being the designated caller in a radio contest.

So he took his first ride on a jet. He landed at LaGuardia only to have a limousine waiting for him. He was still wide-eyed as it pulled up to the entrance of a posh hotel and people rushed to open doors, carry luggage, and otherwise tend to his needs. A bellhop said he would show him to his room.

That room was his first disappointment. It was nice, but it was smaller than he had envisioned for a penthouse. And it seemed he was going to have to share it, for two people were already there when he walked into it.

Sensing something wrong, the bellhop asked, "Is there a problem, sir?"

"I don't mean to gripe," he said. "I was just expecting a bigger room."

"Oh, sir," he replied, "your luxury suite is twenty-nine stories up. This is only the elevator that takes you there."

Don't think for a moment that today's situation has to be the story of your life, the sum of your existence. The good, the bad, and the indifferent of today are mile-markers on your longer journey to eternity. The terrain over which you are traveling ought not be confused with its outcome.

Prayer: Ask the Lord to help you not to be discouraged by the daily troubles of life, but to focus on that which is to come in eternity.

"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle The other is as though everything is a miracle."
~Albert Einstein