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“Now You Can Let Your Servant Go in Peace.”

It appears that Simeon is in a good mood. He offers God a “happy” prayer from someone very content and grateful. This is not the typical prayer that would come out of our mouths. Usually, we ask God to help us with a difficulty or an obstacle that comes our way. And we never ask God to dismiss us from life. We tell God, “Not now; I still have important matters to attend to, and I need more time to finish my legacy,” Why is Simeon at a different place than most of us? Simeon is seeing his life as a part of something special. He sees his life as a part of God’s work of saving the nations. He is seeing life from the big picture.

Most of us approach life like the inchworm in the garden. The inchworm crawls forward and sees a branch. It then climbs over the branch and sees a rock. It now has to work its way over the rock, and then it sees a pool of water. The worm hopes there are no worm-eating fish in there, so it must move cautiously around the water. We are like the inchworm in that we often approach life trying to get over the obstacles and difficulties that come our way. As the inchworm is somewhere working through the obstacles, it never really gets to see the big picture. It does not see the whole garden filled with beautiful flowers, and stunning colors. It does not see the apple trees and the pear trees with all its leaves. It fails to see all the things that would make an inchworm very happy.

Simeon is the one who sees the big picture and God’s great work that makes him happy.

Jesus once told a parable of the father who asked his son to work in the vineyard. The son tells his father he will not go. The parable does not tell us why the son refuses, but we can assume there must be some important reason. Maybe the son has to finish a term paper that day before the deadline. Maybe the son is getting married that weekend. Indeed, he will be too busy to do anything else. Perhaps he is passing papers on his first home. He would rather spend a few days moving in before he runs off to some field. But as the son walks away, he changes his mind and works in the vineyard. What made him change his mind? He probably saw the big picture. He starts to think about God and his plan to save the nations. God promises a great feast with all the people of the world. If that is the case, God will need the finest wine for such a banquet. The son changes his mind and goes to the vineyard to harvest the grapes for this wine. He wants to be a part of something that is really great and special.

My brother lives in Minnesota, so my father and I do not see him often. Before he retired, he was the highest-paid employee in the company. When he retired, my father griped, “He can’t retire now. I am not even retired. He is too young to quit his job. Look at all the money he could make.” I told Dad, ” He retired because you are ninety-two years old and in great health. You fly-fish with me, and we enjoy many nice meals together. He wants to be a part of that now. He wants his life to have something that he did not have before.

Simeon is happy because he sees his life as a part of something really special. He sees the big picture.  

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