the short view

We're told to plan ahead...to keep the big picture...to take the long view.  O.K., I see the need to think ahead...to have goals...to have a large canvas to paint on.  Spiritually, the big picture is truly grand.  There is Heaven and the eternal community of beings and there is God, the Father, and a great throne and a glassy sea and streets of gold and there is eternity itself that defines "the big picture".  But I will cherish the "short view"...the continual series of unknown corners I must turn on a daily basis.  This is where I meet the Lord face to face while I am in the flesh.  I can count on finding Him in unexpected ways through unforeseen circumstances and it is the "finding Him" that reassures me that I have also been found by Him.  It is the unknown aspect of living daily that throws us, either upon ourselves or upon the living God.  For God is the artist who has stepped into His own painting and the author who has written Himself into His book.  And we, too, are found in the picture and on the pages of His writing.  Each day is a page turned and fresh landscape or portrait.  And we are objects of His artistry and authorship who also walk through His gallery and read His book.  We have been made to meet Him...not only once...but daily and forever...in what we see,  what  we do, who we meet and how we respond.  Yes, our hope is in the long view but we find life and we find the author of life on today's canvas and the page we turn as we live out this day.

Isaiah 42:⁷ You will open the eyes of the blind.

   You will free the captives from prison,
      releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.

blessings,

Rob Smith