Thursday, October 11, 2007

Keep Your Eye on the Mark

Call me crazy, but I love cutting the lawn. The lines must be straight so when the job is finished the pattern should be even, perhaps criss crossed or diagonal or back and forth.
This brings to mind what my Dad told me... It was a mark of great pride for the early Saskatchewan farmers to plow a perfectly straight furrow across an immense section of land. This, being done while walking behind a temperamental team of horses and a rickety plow, was no small feat. The secret was to choose a marker in the distance, keep your eye on it and keep walking straight toward it.
(I wonder if the modern day farmers, in their air conditioned,stereo equipped,computerized John Deere tractors still have to do that, or is it just a matter of pushing "cruise-control")

Jesus uses this analogy in Luke 9:62..."No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Wow!

The apostle Paul reminds us also to keep going, keep focused.
Philippians 3:14...Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward what is ahead, toward the goal .....
Hebrews 12:1 & 2 ...Let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us, and fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

We start on our journey with Christ, but get so easily distracted by things that cause us to lose sight of the goal and the finish line.
If we could see our "life-furrow" from the sky, I wonder what kind of pattern would emerge?

1 comment:

Sarah said...

Hi Aunt Esther! Love your blog... haven't been here before, and I always mean to stop in and poke around... great entries!

I read your very first entry and I think my parents named me well - Sarah means "Princess" and my sister, Louise, holds the title, "Battle Maiden!" How's that for a naming job? We actually didn't even look up the meanings of any of our kids before we named them, but we just liked the names!!

I'm going to add you to my favourites. Do you think your sister would like to start her own blog?!!!