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Looking Beyond
My favorite place to fish on the Cape is Morris Island. The water is turquoise blue with miles of sand dunes. I was fishing there one day, and I turned around and noticed a house on top of the cliff with the shades down, blocking the beautiful view. So here is my question– why would someone pay lots of money to build a house on Morris Island on top of a cliff overlooking the most beautiful view and buy shades to cover the windows? Are they afraid that a bird may look inside? I mention this quagmire because we tend to do the same with our lives. We get so caught up in our problems and anxieties in our little world that block out all the wonderful things God has for us.
Job in the Bible did exactly that. He was very sad, and he had reason to be. He lost everything. So there he was in his little world with all his problems and God came knocking on his door and gave him a virtual tour of the universe. God said to Job, “Did you ever see a horse give birth? Did you ever see the stars at the far end of the universe? Did you ever see the Himalayans just after a snowfall? Did you ever see a dolphin play with the kids?” Job was happy because he saw beyond his problems.
I was in an airport in Florida when my flight to Boston was canceled. I went to an agent to rebook my flight, and she informed me that she could not get me back to Boston until the next night. I explained to her that I was a priest and I had two weddings to officiate in the afternoon. She said to me, “In that case, I will make you a VIP and get you to Boston in the morning.” So she handed me two boarding passes. I arrived in Atlanta and I walked toward my connecting flight when I noticed that my boarding pass did not have a seat number. So I went to the agent. She told me that the reason I did not have a seat number is because the flight was full. She would call me if there was an available seat. She said, “if.” After twenty minutes of nervous waiting, she called me and I got to Boston. One of the priests asked me how was the flight. I replied, “It was the most horrible anxiety-filled experience I ever had.” No, I did not say that. I said, “Guess what happened to me. I was made a VIP.”
God is in our lives every day but sometimes we are so busy or caught up in our problems that we do not see the blessings. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan. In it there was a story of a man who fell to robbers. Suppose you asked this man, “How was your day?” He could answer, “I had a horrible day. Robbers beat me up and left me to die after they stripped me of all my clothes.” Or he could say, “I had a great day; a stranger saved his life and was now financing my recovery.”
In the very next story after the man who fell to robbers, Jesus visits Martha. Martha is in her little world with all her problems. She has to cook and has no one to help her. If she removed the shade in front of her window she would see that the Son of God, the co-creator of the world, the Alfa, and the Omega, the beginning and the end, Who dominates over the universe, is in her living room.
We all have anxieties and disappointments. If we can only see beyond them, then we will feel blessed.
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