Last Thursday morning I was setting on the porch with my laptop just enjoying the weather and seeking inspiration for Sunday’s message. And then in the midst of my meditation I heard what appeared to be a gaggle of geese coming my way. As I looked up I was surprised to see about fifty or so geese flying in formation only thirty five feet above me. They were gloriously beautiful and graceful as they flawlessly swam through the atmosphere on what seemed to be invisible sheets of glass. When all of a sudden the magnificent sounds of their voices and flapping wings was intruded upon by the shrill voice of our miniature dachshund as she awoke from her sound sleep from beneath my chair and dove off the porch, yelping all the way in her feeble attempt to seemingly ward off the noisy perpetrators who were invading the airspace above her turf. She continued to bark until they were completely out of site and then proudly trotted back with both her head and tale held high as she reclaimed her domain for the morning under my chair, and went back to sleep on the cool concrete floor of the front porch.
Now as my mind was downloading what I’d just encountered I realized something I seriously needed to record and share with others. You see as these majestic creatures were flying just above us, I’m sure they could hear the yelps of the dog as she beckoned her warnings and complaints in their direction, but the thing is it didn’t stop them. It didn’t faze them at all because they just continued to fly above it. They didn’t allow her complaints to slow them down, change their direction or goal for their lives.
And that’s when it hit me, as followers of Christ we have a direction and goal in this life to “rise above” all the stuff, or those who would try to detour us, or cause us take our sights off our destination before we arrive there. We can be flying high and doing fine, but then there always seems to be somebody who’s unhappy with the fact that you’re flying and they’re still grounded. And for some reason they have this insatiable desire to do their best to bring you down. But in order to keep from being grounded, as Christ followers we should always keep our focus on the goal or as the Apostle Paul puts it, we should always “keep our eyes on the prize”. And honestly our true goal should not only be to make it to heaven, but it should be to “rise” to the occasion of drawing close to God every opportunity we get in this life now. So keep your goal and destination ahead of you and don’t be diverted, disrupted or detained by others complaints or disapprovals of your altitude, but rather do all you can to “lift them up” in your prayers.
well said.
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