The Pastor’s Perspective
Finding Meaning
One day, William Hunt, the famous artist, was giving instructions to a group of young artists. They were painting a landscape scene by a beautiful lake as the sun was setting. Hunt noticed that one of the students was spending an inordinate amount of time painting an old barn and was not giving attention to the beautiful sunset. Looking over the student’s shoulder, the wise old teacher said, “Son, it won’t be light much longer. You’ve got to choose between painting the shingles on the barn and painting the sunset in God’s sky. There’s only time for one, and you have to make a choice.”
There are critical choices that life unerringly offers us. A choice between “good” and “bad” is easy to make. It’s the choice between “good” and “best” that makes the final difference in life on that “last day” when a summary statement is made. One of the greatest dangers is that in a world where there’s so much trivia and smallness, we will never get beyond trivialities and ‘small’ things. It’s so easy to settle for painting the shingles on a red barn while the rich beauty of an unspeakable sunset disappears unnoticed. We stand in danger of becoming so preoccupied with insignificant details that we ignore the significant, broad outlines of life.
Myopia, nearsightedness, is a spiritual illness too. We can quickly become so focused on the little things near us that we miss the great goals toward which we ought to be moving. If we want meaning in life, we will never find it through an exhaustive study of infinitesimal detail.
As we start this new year, let me ask you to stop – for just a little while. Have the courage to look at how your life priorities are arranged. If, on the last day of your life, you were privileged to make a brief statement, what would you like to be able to say? This is a speech that is being written every day.
I hope to see you in worship this Sunday.
Pastor Bobby
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