Shading Our Eyes

Spring and Summer in England has been exceptionally warm and beautiful this year. Often when I’ve been out walking with my dog, Jack, I’ve had to be certain to have my sunglasses. Earlier this week, it was again a day of bright sunshine, but on this occasion, I didn’t have my shades on. Jack had run ahead. Squinting my eyes I could make out moving shapes. Cupping my hand above my eyes, I could clearly see Jack happily playing with several other dogs, all engaged in an exciting game of chase.

As we continued our trek around the recreational field, I had to keep on shading my eyes from the sun in order to properly see what lay ahead. Have you guessed what I’m thinking? It’s the same in our spiritual world.

We can so easily be slowed in our journey, even to the point of despair, because we can’t see the way ahead clearly. All sorts of things can cause us to keep our heads down, focusing on what is at our feet; things like disappointment, anger, poor health, and worry. If only we would remember to keep our heads up, shade our eyes against the glare of this world, and look up to all that lies ahead.

Apostle Paul wrote in II Corinthians 4:17-18, “Our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever. So, don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

Daily troubles are better endured, when we not only remember that with Jesus we are never alone, that with Jesus we have everything we need to get through anything at all, but also we have the promises of a life where no trouble of any sort will ever exist again. It’s a place called Heaven. It’s our future home. Its literally — out of this world!

It is as Paul reminded us in the above scripture; in the light of eternity, today’s troubles will not last long. So shade your eyes from the glare of today’s calamity, fixing them instead on the wonder that is promised to come. That very thought can lighten today’s load.